Fifteen people, including civilians, were killed on Sunday in an Israeli strike on a residential building in Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) announced in Beirut.
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The Syrian Ministry of Defense reported a provisional toll of five dead, “including a soldier”, and 15 wounded “some in critical condition”.
According to the OSDH, the strike hit a building near an Iranian cultural center, in a high security district of the Syrian capital also housing security services.
It is “the deadliest Israeli attack on the Syrian capital” to date, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the OSDH, a non-governmental organization with an extensive network of sources in Syria.
According to the official Syrian agency Sana, several buildings were damaged.
Since the beginning of the war in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in its neighbor, primarily targeting positions of the Syrian army, Iranian forces and Lebanese Hezbollah, allies of the Syrian regime.
The deadly strike targeted the Kafr Sousa district, a high-security area that houses the headquarters of security and intelligence services, and where senior officials of these services live.
“At 12:22 a.m., the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial assault from the occupied Golan Heights, targeting several areas of Damascus and its surroundings, including residential areas,” the Syrian Defense Ministry said.
The Jewish state rarely comments on its strikes once morest Syria, but regularly asserts that it will not let Iran extend its influence to Israel’s borders.
In July 2022, an Israeli strike south of Tartous on Syria’s west coast injured two civilians, according to the Syrian Defense Ministry.
