Israeli missile attack hits high-security district in Syrian capital; 2 killed

DAMASCUS – Several Israeli missiles hit a residential building in the Kafr Sousa district in Syria’s capital Damascus on Feb 21, killing two people, Syrian state media reported.

A military source cited by Syrian state TV said the strike wounded a number of other people, identifying the dead as civilians.

Images published by Syrian state media showed the charred side of a multi-storey building. The security source said the “attack did not achieve its aims”.

The neighbourhood hosts residential buildings, schools and Iranian cultural centres, and lies near a large, heavily guarded complex used by security agencies.

The district was targeted in an Israeli attack in February 2023 that killed Iranian military experts.

Syrian state news agency Sana said an “Israeli attack” targeted a residential building but made no mention of casualties. It published an image of the charred side of a multi-storey building.

Witnesses heard several back-to-back explosions. The blasts scared children at a nearby school and ambulances rushed to the area, the witnesses told Reuters.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Iran has been a major backer of President Bashar al-Assad during Syria’s nearly 12-year conflict. Its support for Damascus and the Lebanese group Hezbollah has drawn regular Israeli air strikes meant to curb Tehran’s extraterritorial military power.

Iran’s semi-official Student News Network said no Iranian citizens were killed in the strike.

Later in the afternoon, a Reuters witness heard another large blast in the capital that shook the windows of homes. Local Syrian outlet Sham FM said several explosions were heard in the capital, without specifying the cause.

Iran has been a major backer of President Bashar al-Assad during Syria’s nearly 12-year-old conflict. Its support for Damascus and the Lebanese group Hezbollah has drawn regular Israeli air strikes meant to curb Teheran’s extraterritorial military power.

Those strikes have ramped up in line with flaring regional tensions since the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israel, with more than half a dozen Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers killed in suspected Israeli strikes on Syria since December.

As a result, the Guards have scaled back deployment of their senior officers in Syria and have planned to rely more on allied Shi’ite militia to preserve their sway there, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier in February.

Iran, a backer of Hamas, has sought to stay out of the conflict itself even as it supports groups that have entered the fray from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria – the so-called Axis of Resistance that is hostile to Israeli and United States interests. REUTERS