Israel carries out airstrikes on Russian-made missile system inside Syria: Warplanes bomb site near Damascus airport as they target Hezbollah
- Syria accuse Israel of attacks on airport and town near Lebanese border
- Israel has said it will 'prevent transfer of weapons to Hezbollah' in Lebanon
- Syrian army claims Israel is helping rebels fighting President al-Assad
- UN predicts that there could be 3.6m Syrian refugees by the end of 2015
Syria has accused Israel of launching several airstrikes near the Lebanese border, including Damascus' international airport.
Israel has launched a series of air strikes inside Syria throughout the three-year civil war, but has maintained their purpose have been to prevent weapons from reaching Lebanese islamist group Hezbollah.
Both targeted sites, Damascus' International Airport and the town of Dimas were used for military purposes and were used to store weapons, possibly Russian-made missiles, according to reports,
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Bombing: Syria has accused Israel of launching several airstrikes near the Lebanese border, bombings that may have been an attack to prevent Syria from arming Lebanese militants Hezbollah
'Both were military sites, and weapons were being stored there,' Rami Abdel Rahma, director of British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict, said.
'This afternoon, the Israeli enemy targeted two safe areas in Damascus province, namely the Dimas area and the Damascus International Airport,' the army said in a statement.
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It said the strikes caused damage but that nobody was hurt.
Following attacks, there has been wide-spread speculation that the weapons targeted in the strikes were Russian-made S300 surface-to-air missiles, the Guardian reports.
Both civilian and military aircraft operate at the airport, which lies southeast of Damascus near flashpoint areas including Eastern Ghouta, large parts of which are in rebel hands.
Israel's Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz refused to comment directly on Sunday's incident, but made thinly veiled references to Hezbollah when questioned.
A video emerged Monday, allegedly showing Israeli jets breaching Syrian airspace before the attacks on Syria's main international airport outside Damascus and the town of Dimas near the Lebanese border
'We have a firm policy of preventing all possible transfers of sophisticated weapons to terrorist organisations,' Steinitz said in a radio interview when questioned about the airstrikes.
The Syrian army reiterated its claim that the Jewish state is helping rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad.
'This direct aggression by Israel was carried out to help the terrorists in Syria, after our armed forces secured important victories in Deir Ezzor, Aleppo and elsewhere,' the army said.
Sunday's air raids proved 'Israel's direct support for terrorism in Syria,' it said, using the regime's collective term to refer to peaceful opponents, armed rebels and jihadists fighting in Syria.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2864606/Syria-accuses-Israel-bombing-Damascus-airport.html#ixzz3rHKwMZDM
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