Israeli missile strikes residential building in Syria’s Damascus, kills 15

As many as 15 people, including civilians, were killed in an Israeli strike in Damascus that struck a residential building. The Israeli airstrikes targeted a residential neighbourhood in central Damascus early Sunday, just two weeks after a massive earthquake jolted the region, the state news agency reported.

The rocket struck a heavily guarded security complex close to Iranian installations, witnesses and officials told Reuters. Israeli airstrikes frequently target sites in the vicinity of Damascus but rarely hit residential areas in the region.

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

The strike hit in Kafr Sousa, a high-security area of the Syrian capital, which is home to senior security officials, security branches and intelligence headquarters, reports said.

The targeted strike damaged several buildings in the densely populated district close to Omayyad square in the heart of the capital, the report said.

According to local media reports, loud explosions were heard in the capital around 12:30 a.m. local time. Syrian air defenses were “confronting hostile targets in the sky around Damascus”.

Footage posted on state media showed that a 10-storey building was badly damaged during the strike, crushing the structure of its lower floors.