Syria says Israel has carried out new attack near Damascus

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian official media say Israel has carried out a new attack near the capital Friday night. Explosions were heard in Damascus short before state-run news agency SAA said Syrian air defenses confronted ‘’hostile targets” near the Damascus countryside. Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in war-torn Syria over the past few years. It says it targets bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group that has fighters deployed in Syria and fighting on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government forces, and arms shipments believed to be bound for the militias.