The August 31 Israeli strikes on the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the southern governorate of Daraa targeted a number of air-defense systems, the Within Syria blog revealed on September 1.
According to the Syria-based blog, four air-defense systems were destroyed in the strikes, which were carried out as part of a suppression of enemy air defense, SEAD, operation. The strikes were launched from northern Israel by warplanes and possibly ground bases.
Military sources told me that the Israeli attack led to the complete destruction of at least four complete systems. Two service members were also killed and seven others were injured, according to SANA. A civilian woman, Mutallah al-Sarhan, lost her life in one of the strikes.
— Within Syria (@WithinSyriaBlog) September 1, 2020
Two Syrian officers, Ismail Sabt and Issa Marouf, and private Mohamad Shakhir were killed in the strikes. Several other service members were injured.
The Israeli strikes also claimed the life of a civilian woman, Mutallah al-Sarhan, and injured her husband in the town of Hayjanah, south of Damascus.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported that several Israeli missiles were intercepted by the Syrian Air Defense Force. This was not enough apparently to foil the large-scale attack.
Israel attacks the Syrian Air Defense Force on a regular basis. Last June, Israeli warplanes destroyed an early warning network in a “complex operation” that targeted several radar sites in southeastern, eastern and central Syria.
By carrying out such attacks, Israel is trying to pressure Damascus into abandoning its ally, Iran. Tel Aviv uses Iranian presence in Syria to justify its repeated attacks on the war-torn country.
