Israeli airstrikes on Syria aftermath.
PHOTO BY AP/SANA
Israeli airstrikes were directed at a residential area in Damascus, the capital of Syria on Sunday (February 20), killing at least 15 people.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported that among the 15 people, a woman was killed in strikes targeting sites connected with Iranian militias and the Lebanese group Hizbollah.
Five persons were killed, including a soldier, and 15 civilians were injured with several residential buildings destroyed.
The tragedy took place in the Damascus countryside and at an Iranian school in the neighborhood of Kafr Sousa in the capital.
Around 12:30am local time, loud explosions were heard over a portion of the city’s center. According to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), Syrian air defenses were “confronting hostile targets in the sky around Damascus.”
Israel did not respond to the incident with a statement. An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment.
According to Mohamad Awad, Director General of Antiquities and Museums, the offices for maintaining the historical monument as arts and heritage institutes were located in the destroyed buildings close to the Damascus Citadel.
Israeli bombings routinely target locations close to Damascus, but they rarely hit the city’s residential sections. The attacks were the first since a devastating 7.8 earthquake on February 6 that struck Turkey and Syria.
Syria has yet to recover from the earthquake with at least 6,000 people killed. KD/Expat Media
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