BEIRUT, April 19, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Israeli strikes on Friday targeted a
Syrian army position in the country's south, Syria's government and a monitor
said, as US media reported Israel had hits its arch-rival Iran.

In a statement, Syria's defence ministry said "the Israeli enemy carried out
an attack using missiles... targeting our air defence sites in the southern
region" and causing material damage.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Israel targeted an
army radar position in the southern province of Daraa that had detected the
entry of Israeli planes into Syria's airspace.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Observatory, said the strikes
took place "at a time when the Israeli air force was flying intensively over
the Daraa region" without Syrian air defences taking any action.

The Israeli military has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since the
outbreak of a civil war in its northern neighbour in 2011, targeting the army
and Iran-backed fighters.

But the strikes have increased since Israel's war with Iran-backed
Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip began on October 7.

Rayan Maarouf, who runs the Suwayda24 anti-government new website, had
earlier told AFP there had been strikes on a Syrian army radar position in
Sweida province, without specifying their origin.

The latest strikes came as explosions were reported early on Friday in
central Iran, with senior US officials reporting an Israeli attack.

Iran's Fars news agency reported three explosions near a military base in the
province of Isfahan. The official news agency IRNA said there was "no major
damage".

Israel warned it would hit back after Iran launched hundreds of drones and
missiles against Israel overnight on April 13 in an unprecedented attack,
which was retaliation for a deadly strike on its Damascus consulate.