Five Killed In Israeli Strikes On Civilian, Military Targets In Syria (Videos)
On February 19, five people were killed and at least 15 others were wounded when Israeli strikes hit a building in the highly-secured Kafar Sousah neighborhood in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Citing a military source, the Syrian Arab News Agency said that Israel also attacked several bases around Damascus. One of the bases was reportedly a radar site near the village of Tall al-Masyah in the northeastern countryside of the neighboring al-Suwayda governorate.
“It caused damage to several civilian homes and material damage to a number of neighborhoods in Damascus and its vicinity,” the military source said in a statement.
The heaviest damage was at the Kafar Sousah building, which is reportedly located near Iranian installations, including a key cultural center. The state-run agency said that four of the fatalities were civilians.
Immediately after the strikes, several reports in the Hebrew and Arab media said that the target was senior officials from the Quds Force, the foreign operations wing of Iran’s, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. This is yet to be confirmed, however.
The deadly strikes came just a few days after BBC Perisan reported an Iranian drone attack on an Israeli-owned oil tanker in the Arabian Sea.
In a letter to the United Nations and Security Council chiefs, the Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli attack which took place as Syria is struggling to overcome the destruction caused by the February 6 earthquake.
“The aggression comes in the context of the systematic Israeli attacks against the Syrian civilian targets, including homes, service centers, airports, and ports, intimidating the Syrians who are still suffering from the catastrophic effects left by the earthquake and working to support those affected by it,” the letter reads.
This was the largest confirmed attack by Israel to target Syria this year. However, it was not the deadliest. On January 2, at least six Syrian service members were reportedly killed when a series of Israeli strikes targeted Damascus International Airport.
Israel has been carrying out air strikes against suspected Iranian-sponsored weapons transfers and personnel deployments in Syria for around a decade as a part of a covert military campaign known as “the war between the wars.” Israeli officials have rarely acknowledged responsibility.
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