Syrian missile blast near Israeli nuclear plant

A Syrian anti-aircraft missile has exploded 30 kilometers from southern Israel's secret nuclear facilities.

Danger sirens sounded in the Domino area, followed by a loud explosion. No injuries or deaths were reported in the missile blast.

The Israeli military says the missile was one of several missiles fired from Syria to target Israeli warplanes.

Israel says it has hit several Syrian anti-aircraft batteries in retaliation. Syria says Israel has attacked several locations near Damascus.

Syrian officials added that most of the missiles fired by Israel were destroyed in mid-air, but that four Syrian soldiers were wounded and some property was damaged.

Israel often attacks Syria, claiming to target areas where Iranian Revolutionary Guards are trying to establish bases. Israel says it will not tolerate Iran's military presence in Syria.

The Israeli military says the missile, which exploded in the Negev desert, was an SA-5 surface-to-air missile.

The Israeli military says the missile came off its target and was fired at a time when Israel was launching air strikes on southern Syria.

According to preliminary investigations, Israel's state-of-the-art missile defense system failed to destroy the missile in mid-air. Fragments of the missile have been found in the southeastern part of Demon, but it is not clear whether they are SA-5 missiles or defense missiles fired to destroy it.

"I heard a loud explosion," Sonia Ravi, a resident of the area, told the Israeli newspaper. Waited a while and then went out to see what had happened.

"The next morning her husband called her out and showed me the pieces of the rocket," she said. It was scary to see my husband working out in the open at night. No warning was given.

The Israeli military says it has responded by hitting more Syrian anti-aircraft batteries.

A Syrian army official told the Sanaa News Agency that the Israeli army carried out air strikes and fired missiles from the Golan Heights, targeting various locations around Damascus.

Most of the missiles were destroyed in mid-air, he said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported that a Syrian army air defense base had been targeted 40 kilometers northeast of Damascus, killing a Syrian army officer. Is.

The base is home to an arms depot used by Iranian-backed groups fighting the Syrian rebels.

Ozi Rubin, an Israeli defense expert, told Reuters news agency that it was not uncommon for an SA-5 missile to come off its target and land deep inside Israel.

He said that if the Syrian army had intended to target the Dimona nuclear facility, they would have used more powerful skid missiles.

Israel's nuclear weapons are being built at Dimona's nuclear facility, but Israel denies or confirms this and has deliberately pursued a policy of ambiguity over the years.

Israel has reportedly stepped up air defense in the wake of the threat of an attack by Iranian-backed groups in Syria and the region around Dimona and the Red Sea port of Eilat.

Israel and Iran, two longtime enemies of the region, have been at loggerheads since the Israeli cyber attack on Iran's Natanz nuclear plant.

Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israeli media and newspapers have claimed that it was carried out by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.