In the early hours of 31 March, Israeli warplanes launched airstrikes against the Syrian capital Damascus for the second night in a row, state-media outlet SANA reported.

“At about 12:17 am on Friday, the Israeli enemy launched an aerial aggression with bursts of missiles from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting a site in Damascus countryside,” SANA quoted a Syrian military official as saying.

Syrian air defense managed to intercept the strikes, shooting down some of the missiles launched by Israel, the source added. The attack resulted in minor material damages.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced the death of IRGC military officer and advisor Milad Heydari as a result of the aggression.

This is the fifth aerial assault launched by Israel against Syria since the devastating earthquake struck the country last month. It is also the second Israeli attack in 24 hours.

In the early hours of Thursday, 30 March, Syrian air defenses were activated after Israel launched missiles on Damascus from the airspace of the occupied Golan Heights. Military sources that spoke with SANA say the attack inflicted material losses and injured two Syrian Arab Army (SAA) soldiers.

Less than 10 days earlier, Israeli jets pounded Aleppo International Airport in northeast Syria, putting it out of commission for several days and hindering the delivery of life-saving aid.

Israel regularly launches illegal airstrikes on Syria against what it claims are Iranian and Hezbollah targets. However, the strikes, more often than not, target Syrian military positions.

In the days following the earthquake, Israel said that it would “not hesitate” to bomb Iranian aid convoys, claiming that Tehran seeks to “take advantage of the tragic situation … to send weapons and equipment to Hezbollah.” Israel has struck aid convoys in Syria before under such claims.

In response to the fresh Israeli assault on Damascus early this morning, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that Israel has become “emboldened … to continue violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an independent country and a member of the United Nations.”

Kanaani also called on the international community to break its silence on the continuous, illegal Israeli attacks against Syria.