Israeli strike on Damascus kills 15

Fifteen people, including civilians, were killed on Sunday February 19 in an Israeli strike on a residential building in Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) announced in Beirut. The Syrian Defense Ministry reported a provisional death toll of five, “including a soldier”and 15 wounded “for some in critical condition”.

The strike hit, according to the OSDH, a building near an Iranian cultural center, in a high security district of the Syrian capital also housing security services. It is “the deadliest Israeli attack on the Syrian capital” to date, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the OSDH, a non-governmental organization with a vast network of sources in Syria. According to the official Syrian agency Sana, several buildings were damaged.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in its neighbor since the beginning of the war in Syria in 2011. Tsahal has primarily targeted positions of the Syrian army, Iranian forces and Lebanese Hezbollah, allies of the Syrian regime. The deadly strike targeted the Kafr Sousa district, a high-security area that houses the headquarters of security and intelligence services, and where senior officials of these services live.