Syria said Wednesday it has responded to “a new Israeli aggression” after aircraft targeted a military outpost near Damascus, claiming its air defense system destroyed most of the missiles.

State news agency SANA said air defenses confronted the Israeli planes, which it said were flying over Lebanese territory when they fired the missiles.

“Our air defense systems responded to missiles fired by the Israeli enemy air force from over Lebanese territory on a military outpost in Damascus countryside and destroyed most of them,” an army statement said.

The Israeli military declined comment.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the Syria war through activists on the ground, said the airstrike targeted positions of the Syrian army and its allies in the area of Jamraya, northwest of Damascus, which is home to a government research center and was also hit in December.

Wednesday’s report was the second such accusation in less than a month.

Syria’s military on Jan. 9 accused Israel of launching missiles targeting military outposts in the area of Qutayfeh, in the Damascus countryside. The military said that attack caused material damage.

Israel has carried out dozens of airstrikes inside Syria in the course of Syria’s civil war, against what it says are suspected arms shipments believed to be bound for Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which is fighting alongside Syrian government forces.

On Tuesday afternoon/evening, members of the Security Cabinet held a special tour of the Northern Command and heard a security briefing devoted to recent developments in the arena.

The comprehensive survey, which was conducted in the Golan Heights, came against the background of the Israeli message over the fear of Iran’s entrenchment in Syria and Lebanon, and in light of Hezbollah threats to open fire on the forces constructing the new security barrier on the northern border.

After the tour, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said: “I am now finishing a tour we conducted this morning with the Northern Command with the members of the cabinet. I am impressed by the great work the IDF is doing here in order to defend our borders and defend our country, but we are prepared for any scenario, and I do not suggest anyone to try us.

“I also promised the widow of Rabbi Raziel Shevach that we would consider his murderer. I want to praise the Shin Bet security service, the SWAT and the IDF, who did exactly that, and so will the terrible murderer of Itamar Ben Gal. We are all with the family, we are all with the widow.”

(AP/ YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)