Syria accuses Israel of firing missiles near a Damascus military airport

Syria accused Israel of firing missiles early on Friday that struck near a major military airport west of Damascus, sparking a fire, and warned Israel of repercussions without specifying whether it would retaliate for the attack.

The attack was the third such incident recently, according to the Syrian government.

In a statement carried on the official news agency SANA, the Syrian military said several missiles were launched just after midnight from an area near Lake Tiberias.

The missiles fell in the vicinity of the Mezzeh military airport on the western edge of the Syrian capital. The statement did not say whether there were any casualties.

Residents of Damascus reported hearing several explosions that shook the city. The Mezzeh airport compound, located on the southwestern edge of the capital, had been used to launch attacks on rebel-held areas near Damascus and has previously come under rebel fire.

The Syrian army said Israel, through its attacks, was assisting “terrorist groups” fighting the Syrian government.

“The Syrian army command and armed forces warn the Israeli enemy of the repercussions of this blatant attack and stress that it will continue its war on terrorism,” the statement said.

Later Friday, the Foreign Ministry condemned the missile attack in two letters to the U.N. Secretary-General and the president of the U.N. Security Council, saying such an attack would not have occurred had it not been for the “direct support from the outgoing American administration and French and British leaderships.”

The ministry said the Israeli assault on the Mezzeh military airport comes as part of a series of periodic Israel attacks that started with Syria’s war in March 2011. It called on the international community to “punish the Israeli aggressor.”

On Dec. 7, the Syrian government reported Israel fired surface-to-surface missiles that also struck near the Mezzeh airport. A week earlier, SANA said Israeli jets fired two missiles from Lebanese airspace toward the outskirts of Damascus, in the Sabboura area.

The Israeli military has declined to comment on those incidents, and there was no immediate comment on Friday’s reported attack.

Israel is widely believed to have carried out a number of airstrikes in Syria in the past few years that have targeted advanced weapons systems, including Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles and Iranian-made missiles, as well as positions of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group in Syria.

The Shiite group has sent thousands of its fighters to Syria to support President Bashar Assad’s forces in the country’s civil war, now in its sixth year.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman recently reiterated his government’s position to not get involved in the Syrian war.

The Associated Press