Israeli Strikes Near Syrian Capital: Three Dead

Early on Saturday, Israeli air strikes hit a high-end residential area near Damascus, Syria, resulting in three fatalities, as reported by a war monitoring group.

Syrian state media described the incident as an “air attack” by Israel and stated that Syria’s air defenses were activated in response.

Israel has conducted numerous air strikes in Syria since the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011, primarily targeting forces backed by Iran, including Hezbollah fighters and Syrian military installations. These air strikes have seen an uptick following the commencement of hostilities between Israel and Hamas on October 7.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights based in the UK, confirmed the death toll but could not verify if the deceased were combatants.

The attack injured several individuals and struck a neighborhood known for housing senior military officials and high-ranking personnel, Abdel Rahman noted.

The Observatory initially reported the Israeli assault targeted a residential building west of Damascus, accompanied by loud explosions.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, quoted a military source stating that Israel launched the attack from the Golan Heights’ direction around 1:05 am (2205 GMT Friday), aiming at various locations in the Damascus outskirts. The Syrian military claimed to have intercepted some of the missiles, acknowledging only “material losses” from the attack.

This incident followed a separate attack near a military airport west of Damascus on Friday, attributed to missiles, as per the Observatory. Meanwhile, the defense ministry reported drone incursions from the Golan Heights direction, with Syrian air defenses successfully neutralizing two drones west of Damascus.

The Observatory mentioned that the area hosts positions of Hezbollah and other Iran-aligned factions, without specifying the perpetrators of the missile attack.

The defense ministry’s statement detailed the interception of two drones infiltrating Syrian airspace from the Golan Heights around 2:10 pm on Friday, without attributing the act to any party.

The Israeli military, when approached by AFP for comments, did not address the reports circulating in international media.