A israeli shelling against the capital of Syria left at least 15 dead and seriously damaged a building in the neighborhood of DamascusWhere are the Syrian security and intelligence agencies.
According to the opposition NGO Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), the bombardment was targeted at “sites (used by) Iranian militias and Lebanese Hezbollah”although among the dead there were also civilians.
“Sunday’s bombing is the deadliest Israeli attack on the Syrian capital,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the OSDH, an organization based in Britain and using a network of sources inside Syria.
The attack hit a ten-story building near the Iranian Cultural Center in the Kafr Sousa neighborhoodwhere some ministries, security agencies and intelligence agencies are based.
Since the start of the war in Syria in 2011, Israel has launched hundreds of bombardments against the neighboring countrydirected especially against Army posts, Iranian militias and Hezbollah, which are allies of the Syrian government.
The Syrian Defense Ministry said the bombardment was launched from the Golan Heights, the Syrian plateau occupied by Israel since 1967. “The Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the occupied Golan Heights against several areas in and around Damascus, including residential neighborhoods,” the ministry said in a statement.
At the entrance to the attacked building there was a crater and the streets were littered with rubble and the remains of glass from exploded windows, the AFP news agency reported.
The OSDH reported that another missile attack hit a warehouse of Iranian militias and Hezbollah fighters on the outskirts of Damascus.
Israel does not usually comment on its operations against Syria, but he often reiterates that he will not allow Iran to extend its influence as far as Israel’s borders.
The Syrian government of President Bashar al Assad receives military support from Russia, Iran and armed Shiite groups such as Hezbollah, Israel’s sworn enemy.
A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Naser Kanani, said he “strongly condemned the Zionist regime’s attack on targets in Damascus and its periphery, including some residential buildings.”
The bombardment came weeks after an Israeli missile strike hit Damascus International Airport, on January 2, killing four people, including two soldiers.
The conflict in Syria began in 2011 with the crackdown on peaceful protests and escalated into a civil war that also involved foreign powers and jihadist groups. Since the war began, nearly half a million people have died, and more than half the country’s then-population fled their homes.