Israel strikes Damascus, kills three soldiers: Syrian ministry

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least three Syrian soldiers were killed and about seven others were wounded in an Israeli strike that targeted Damascus early Friday, Syria’s defense ministry said.

“The Israeli enemy carried out a strike ... the aggression killed three soldiers and wounded seven others,” read the ministry’s statement, adding that the Syrian defense system had intercepted some of the missiles. 

A war monitor raised the death toll to double.

“Six members were killed, including three Syrian nationals and three non-Syria nationals in addition to the injury of 10 other members,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported. 

The missiles also targeted an airforce intelligence facility and a high-ranking officer’s office. It also destroyed an “Iranian weapons depot,” the monitor added.

Israel has conducted hundreds of airstrikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria throughout its 11-year civil war but it rarely acknowledges them.

It often targets Iran-affiliated militias, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah group which supports the Syrian army, in what it says is an effort to prevent them from securing further ground along its borders.

Hezbollah is fighting on the side of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s army in the war, which started after a military crackdown on Arab Spring-inspired protests in 2011 calling for his ousting.

An Israeli strike wounded two civilians in Syria earlier this month. 

Another attack targeted Damascus airport last month, rendering its runways unusable.