Israeli strike hits heart of Syria’s security elite

BEIRUT: An Israeli missile strike aimed at Iranian and Hezbollah targets on early Sunday killed 15 people and destroyed a building in a Damascus neighbourhood home to much of Syria’s security apparatus, a war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike, which hit close to an Iranian cultural centre, had killed 15 people including civilians.

“Israeli missiles targeted sites including Iranian militias and the Lebanese Hezbollah,” it added.

During more than a decade of war in Syria, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against its neighbour, primarily targeting positions of the country’s army, Iranian forces and Hezbollah, allies of the Damascus regime.

But it rarely hits residential areas of the capital.

Sunday’s strike hit Kafr Sousa, home to senior officials, security agencies and intelligence headquarters.

“At 00:22 am (2222 GMT), the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights targeting several areas in Damascus and its vicinity, including residential neighbourhoods,” Syria’s defence ministry said in a statement.

In a preliminary toll, it said the strike killed five people, among them a soldier, and injured 15 civilians, some in critical condition.

Israel’s military rarely comments on its strikes against Syria, but regularly asserts that it will not let Iran extend its influence to Israel’s borders.

The Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad receives military support from Tehran and its allied armed groups including Hezbollah, which are declared enemies of Israel.