Syria: Air defenses respond to Israeli strikes near capital

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s state media are reporting Israeli airstrikes around the country’s capital, Damascus. The state-news agency SANA says Syrian air defenses confronted the Israeli planes, while the pro-Syrian government Cham FM Radio reported airstrikes in the Damascus countryside and in the central province of Homs. Residents of the capital reported hearing at least five loud explosions that shook apartment buildings over a 15 minute time span late on Thursday. There was no immediate comment from Israel, which rarely acknowledges or discusses its operations inside Syria. Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes inside Syria in the course of the civil war.