Syrian air defense intercepted Israeli missiles in southern Syria on Monday, the official SANA news agency said. “Our air defenses have intercepted hostile missiles in the southern regionsaid SANA. An AFP correspondent heard in the capital, Damascus, strong explosions in the evening.

On May 20, Israeli surface-to-surface missiles killed at least three Syrian officers near Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Israeli missiles targeted Iranian bases and ammunition dumps near the Syrian capital, according to the same source. On May 13 a similar strike killed five soldiers and on April 27 another killed 10.

Since the start of the war in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in its neighbor, targeting positions of the Syrian army, Iranian forces and Lebanese Hezbollah. The Jewish state rarely comments on its strikes against Syria but says it will not allow Iran to expand its influence in Syria. Triggered by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations, the war in Syria has claimed around 500,000 lives, devastated the country’s infrastructure and displaced millions of people.