Israeli air raids kill eight soldiers in Syria’s Deraa

Eight Syrian soldiers were killed and seven others were injured after an Israeli attack on the country’s southwestern region, Syrian state news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.

SANA added Israel struck Syrian military targets in the “aerial” attack at 1:45 a.m. local time [06:45 p.m. ET] in the countryside of Dara’a.

The Israel Defense Forces claimed earlier Wednesday that Israeli military aircraft carried out airstrikes on Syrian military infrastructure and mortar launchers.

On October 22, Syrian officials announced Israel has carried out fresh airstrikes on the Arab country’s two main airports in the cities of Damascus and Aleppo, knocking both facilities out of commission in the third such attacks within the span of 10 days. The two workers who were killed were from the meteorology service and based at the airport, the agency announced.

Both airports were hit on October 12 and Aleppo was targeted a second time on October 14, according to Syrian aviation authorities.

Syria has been in the grip of foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies aid Takfiri terrorist groups that continue to wreak havoc in the country.

Israel frequently targets military positions inside Syria, especially those of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah which has played a key role in helping the Syrian army in its fight against foreign-backed terrorists.

The Tel Aviv regime rarely comments on its attacks on Syrian territories, which many see as a knee-jerk reaction to the Syrian government’s success in confronting and decimating terrorism.