Israeli airstrikes have targeted a residential neighborhood in the Syrian capital of Damascus early Sunday, killing at least five people and injuring 15, according to Syrian state media agency SANA. The attack was reported to have taken place around 12:30 a.m. local time, with loud explosions heard in a central area of the capital. Syrian air defenses were reported to have engaged the “hostile targets” in the sky.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported that the strikes targeted sites associated with Iranian militias and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The attacks reportedly took place in the Damascus countryside and an Iranian school in the Kafr Sousa neighborhood of the capital.
Residents of the neighborhood were shocked and terrified by the attack, with some mistaking the explosions for an earthquake. Samer Abdo, an engineer living in an apartment building that was struck, said that his family had woken up in terror to the building shaking. Meanwhile, Mohamad Dulo, another resident of the neighborhood, said that people had run down to the streets after all the windows fell into the street.
The Israeli military has not yet released a statement on the attack, with a spokesperson declining to comment. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets in government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, though it rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations. However, the country has acknowledged that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Hezbollah, which have sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
The airstrikes come amid a wider shadow war between Israel and Iran. The attacks on airports in Damascus and Aleppo were reportedly over concerns that they were being used to funnel Iranian weaponry into the country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at a meeting of his Cabinet on Sunday, saying that Israel would continue to defend itself against what it sees as Iran’s aggression.
The recent attack on Damascus is the first since a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6. The last reported attack on the Syrian capital was on Jan. 2, when Israel’s military reportedly fired missiles toward the international airport, killing two soldiers and injuring two others.
(Inputs from AP)
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The Chenab Times News Desk