DAMASCUS: Israeli missile strikes on central and western Syria on Monday evening wounded two Syrian soldiers, state news agency Sana said, quoting a military source.
They targeted “the central and coastal regions… wounding two soldiers and causing some material damage”, it said.
“Syrian air defences responded to the enemy’s missiles and shot down several of them,” the agency added, without giving further details. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the raids hit close to a military airport in central Homs province.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said Syrian government forces have military posts in that area “where groups” are also deployed. According to the Observatory, Syria’s air defences downed at least four missiles.
Similar strikes on November 3 hit positions held by the Syrian government and its allies near Damascus, according to the Observatory. After those strikes, Sana confirmed the raids but said they only caused material damage.
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes, but has confirmed carrying out hundreds in Syria since the civil war erupted in 2011 in a bid to stop gaining a foothold on its doorstep.
BOOSTING TROOPS
Egypt said it was boosting troop numbers around Rafah in restive Sinai in the battle against IS group militants, after striking a coordination deal with neighbouring Israel.
No details of how many extra soldiers would be sent, but it is the first agreed increase in troops since 2018.
“The joint military committee succeeded in amending the security agreement, in coordination with the Israeli side, to increase the number of (Egyptian) border guard forces” in Rafah, the army’s spokesperson said in a statement.
Israel’s army said they would “continue working together to ensure security along our border”.
Egypt’s Rafah crossing is the only passage to the Palestinian Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel.
The deployment comes amid “efforts to preserve Egyptian national security,” Egypt’s statement added.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state in 1979 after decades of enmity and conflict.
The peace treaty requires each side to agree to any change of troop numbers along the border region.
Militants in Egypt’s Sinai have multiplied their attacks since the army’s 2013 ouster of president Mohamed Mursi.
Authorities have been since February 2018 conducting a nationwide operation against militants, mainly focused on North Sinai and the country’s Western Desert. Around 1,073 suspected militants and dozens of security personnel have been killed since the start of operations, according to official figures.
In a rare public admission of close security cooperation with the Israelis, President Abdel Fattah al Sisi told CBS in 2019 that “the air force sometimes needs to cross to the Israeli side” adding that “that’s why we have a wide range of coordination with the Israelis”.
Cairo played a key role in negotiating a ceasefire in May between Israel and Hamas to end 11 days of fighting. – Agencies
