Israeli strike in Damascus killed 2 Islamic Jihad members: Group
Airstrikes in Syria
Israeli fighter jets launched airstrikes on suspected Islamic Jihad positions in Syria, the Israeli military said on Monday, after the militant group and Israel exchanged rockets andairstrikes around Gaza.
An Israeli military statement said its forces had "struck Islamic Jihad terror targets south of Damascus" in addition to "dozens" of Islamic Jihadtargets throughout the Gaza Strip.
The airstrike in the Adeliyah region outside Damascus targeted what the Israeli military called "ahub of Islamic Jihad's activityin Syria," including the research and development of weapons.
The Israeli announcement came shortly after Syrian state media said its air defences hadintercepted "hostile targets"over the Syrian capital, Damascus.
The strike escalated the latest round of hostilities, which began around dawn on Sunday, when, Israel said, its troops killed an Islamic Jihad member who was trying to plant explosives near Israel's border fence with the Gaza Strip.
Islamic Jihad fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza into Israel, setting off air-raid sirens in communities such as Ashkelon. Israel hit back with a series of airstrikes in Gaza.
The rockets sent residents of southern Israel running for shelters. Some of the rocket fire was intercepted byIsraeli aerial missile defences, and there were no reports of any Israelis injured.
The Israeli military said that among the "dozens" of targets struck in Gaza were underground infrastructure and compounds in Rafah that had been used to store raw material used for manufacturing rockets.
Shortly before midnight on Sunday, the Syrian state news agency SANA quoted a military source saying thatIsraeli planes had entered Syrian airspaceand targeted areas around Damascus with a wave of guided missiles.
Syrian state-run al-Ikhbariya TV aired footage of what it said were explosions set off in the Damascus night sky by the air defence systemshooting down missiles.
The Syrian military source said most missiles were destroyed before reaching their targets and that theaftermath of the strikewas being examined.
Israel says it has carried out hundreds ofstrikes against targets in Syriain recent years. In November, Islamic Jihad said Israel had targeted the house of one of its officials in Damascus, killing one of his sons.