Israeli missile strikes residential building in Syria’s Damascus, kills 15

As many as 15 people, including civilians, were killed in an Israeli strike in Damascus that struck a residential building, reported AFP quoting the Syrian Observatory for human rights.

The Israeli airstrikes targeted a residential neighbourhood in central Damascus early Sunday, just two weeks after a massive earthquake jolted the region, the state news agency reported.

The rocket struck a heavily guarded security complex close to Iranian installations, witnesses and officials told Reuters. Israeli airstrikes frequently target sites in the vicinity of Damascus but rarely hit residential areas in the region.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike, which hit close to an Iranian cultural centre, had killed 15 people, including civilians.

The strike hit in Kafr Sousa, a high-security area of the Syrian capital, which is home to senior security officials, security branches and intelligence headquarters, reports said.

The targeted strike damaged several buildings in the densely populated district close to Omayyad square in the heart of the capital, the report said.

According to local media reports, loud explosions were heard in the capital around 12:30 a.m. local time. Syrian air defenses were “confronting hostile targets in the sky around Damascus”, state news agency SANA reported.

“At 00:22 AM (2222 GMT), the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights targeting several areas in Damascus and its vicinity, including residential neighbourhoods,” Syria’s defence ministry said in a statement.

Footage posted on state media showed that a 10-storey building was badly damaged during the strike, crushing the structure of its lower floors.

“The strike on Sunday is the deadliest Israeli attack in the Syrian capital,” Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Observatory, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria, told AFP.

Israel has been carrying out air strikes against Iranian-sponsored weapons transfers and personnel deployments in next-door Syria.

For almost a decade, Israel has been carrying out air strikes against suspected Iranian-sponsored weapons transfers and personnel deployments in next-door Syria. Israel has asserted that it will not let Iran extend its influence to its borders.

On January 2, Israel’s military fired missiles towards the international airport of Syria’s capital, killing two soldiers and wounding two others.