Israeli missiles hit Damascus, the Syrian capital, this Sunday, February 19. At least 15 people were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), although the Syrian state news agency SANA reports five deaths, including civilians. The assault heavily damaged a building in a district that is home to several state security agencies.
Israel has once again dealt a strong blow against Syria, a country brutally plagued by the internal conflict of more than a decade, but in which external agents have been involved.
Fires and explosions were recorded in Damascus, the capital, and its surroundings due to the impact of a series of Israeli missiles, in the early hours of this Sunday, February 19. The assault leaves at least 15 people dead, including civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
However, the Syrian state news agency SANA puts the death toll at least five, including a soldier, adding that 15 people were injured.
The assault targeted “positions where militias backed by Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah are stationed,” the OSDH said, referring to the Shiite Muslim organization, which has an armed and political wing.
The rockets fell on the Kafar Souseh neighborhood in central Damascus, near a large, heavily guarded security complex and close to Iranian facilities; as well as in the Dawar al Mazra district. Its damage also spread to an area between the towns of Sayeda Zainab, ten kilometers south of the capital, and Diabiya, around the city.
“It caused damage to various civilian homes and material damage to various neighborhoods in and around Damascus,” the Army of Bashar Al Assad’s regime remarked in a statement.
Israel just bombed Syria, hitting a residential area in Damascus. 15 people killed.
Can’t leave people in peace even in the aftermath of an earthquake + sanctions. pic.twitter.com/sXam8urZYg
—Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) February 19, 2023
Also seriously affected was a ten-story building that houses senior state officials and the headquarters of Syrian intelligence, a medieval citadel in the center of Damascus, an institute of applied arts and an Iranian school.
In addition, “the Radar battalion was attacked in Tal Masih, in As Suwayda”, to the southwest of the Syrian capital, and a rocket that fell on the so-called Al Mazraa roundabout caused the death of a woman, the OSDH points out.
“All the windows fell onto the street and people also ran into the streets (…) It is a residential area. There is nothing (military) here,” said Mohamad Dulo, a resident of Kafr Sousa.
“At first we thought it was an earthquake like the one that happened two weeks ago,” added Samer Abdo, another local resident.
“Deadliest Israeli attack on Syrian capital”
Civilians, including two women, are among those killed in “the deadliest Israeli attack on the Syrian capital” so far, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The attacks would have been answered by local forces. SANA reported that the defenses engaged “hostile targets in the skies around Damascus,” amid heavy explosions in a central area of the city.
This is the second Israeli attack on Syrian territory so far in 2023.
On January 2, OSDH activists documented the deaths of seven Iranian-backed militants: three Syrians and four foreigners, in Israeli assaults on Damascus International Airport and a nearby warehouse.
Airstrikes from the majority-Jewish nation frequently target sites in the vicinity of Damascus, but rarely target residential areas of the capital.
What is Israel’s role in the Syrian war?
For years Israel has entered the Syrian conflict, dealing blows to its enemy Iran, which supports the troops of President Bashar Al Assad, and to the local forces themselves. An equation that remains on the Middle East chess board.
In this sense, its attacks have been mainly directed against the country’s Army, Iranian forces and Hezbollah. All allies of the Damascus regime.
Military experts stress that Israel is targeting alleged Iranian-sponsored arms transfers and personnel deployments in neighboring Syria. In this series of actions, in recent months it has also intensified the attacks against Syrian airports and air bases, in an attempt to strike blows at the supply airlines in which Tehran delivers weapons to its allies in Syrian territory and Lebanon.
However, the Assad administration has never publicly acknowledged that Iranian forces are operating on its behalf in the conflict, merely pointing out that the Islamic Republic only has military advisers on the ground.
The latest developments would be explained by the fact that Iran’s proxy militias, led by the Lebanese Hezbollah, now dominate vast areas in eastern, southern and northwestern Syria and in various suburbs around the capital.
Although the Israeli government has rarely claimed responsibility for specific operations in that territory, it has publicly indicated that it attacks the bases of militant groups allied to Iran.
“Iran’s attacks will not discourage us. We will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons and we will not allow it to entrench itself along our northern borders. We are doing everything and we will do everything to protect our citizens and we respond with intensity to the attacks against us,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this Sunday, without directly mentioning the assaults on February 19.
The attacks by Netanyahu’s forces come amid a broader shadow war between Israel and Tehran.
With Reuters and EFE
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