Five people were “martyred” and 15 others wounded in an “Israeli air aggression, with waves of missiles, targeting areas in Damascus and its vicinity, including residential neighborhoods,” SANA reported early
Sunday morning.
“At 00:22 AM Sunday, the Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression with waves of missiles from the direction of occupied Syrian Golan, targeting some points in Damascus city and its surroundings, including residential neighborhoods, our air defenses intercepted the missiles and downed most of them,” SANA reported, citing a military source.
According to the same source, five people were killed, among them a soldier, and 15 civilians were wounded, some of them critical. The attack also destroyed several civilian homes and caused material damage to several neighborhoods in Damascus and its vicinity.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Israeli missiles targeted sites belonging to Iranian militias and the Lebanese Hezbollah, in an area between Sayeda Zeinab and Diabiya in the countryside of Damascus, resulting in fires and explosions in the targeted areas, as well as the destruction of an Iranian held area, and a school building.
A missile also landed at the Al-Mazraa roundabout, where a woman was reported dead. The radar battalion was targeted in Tal Masih, south of Shahba, in As-Suwayda.
Other Syrian opposition sources claim that the damage in the residential neighborhood of Damascus was caused by an anti-aircraft missile fired by the Syrian army, in an attempt to repel the Israeli attack. The director of the Syrian Civil Aviation Authority, Bassem Mansour, said that the Damascus international airport is operating normally and there was no damage there at all. Media outlets affiliated with the Syrian regime reported that the attack was also aimed at a target in the north of the al-Sawidaa district, the Druze Mountain in the south of the country.
This is the second Israeli attack since the beginning of 2023, according to SOHR. On January 2, 7 were killed as a result of Israeli strikes: 3 Syrians and 4 foreigners, as a result of an Israel attack on Damascus International Airport and its surroundings.
In 2022, Israel attacked 32 times inside Syrian territory, using missiles and warplanes. The attacks destroyed 91 targets, including buildings, weapons and ammunition depots, headquarters, centers, and “mechanisms.” 89 soldiers and 121 others were killed in those attacks in 2022.
