Israeli strikes in Damascus kills 15 as attacks on Lebanon continue

Residential buildings targeted suburbs of Syrian city where Israel says headquarters of Islamic Jihad group located

People check the damage following a reported Israeli strike in the Mazzeh district of Damascus, Syria, on Thursday. Photograph: Louai Beshara/AFP via Getty
People check the damage following a reported Israeli strike in the Mazzeh district of Damascus, Syria, on Thursday. Photograph: Louai Beshara/AFP via Getty

Fifteen people were killed in Israeli strikes on residential buildings in Damascus on Thursday, Syrian state media reported, and Israel said the attacks targeted military sites and the headquarters of the Islamic Jihad group.

The buildings targeted were located in the suburbs of Mazzeh and Qudsaya, both in the west of the Syrian capital, SANA news agency reported, citing a Syrian military source.

Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years but has ramped up such raids since last year’s October 7th attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.

The strikes come as Human Rights Watch said that Israeli authorities have caused a forced displacement of Palestinian people in Gaza to an extent that constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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Commanders in Lebanon’s Hizbullah armed group and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards based in Syria have been known to reside in Mazzeh, according to residents who fled after recent strikes that killed some key figures from the groups.

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Mazzeh’s high-rise blocks have been used by the authorities in the past to house leaders of Palestinian factions including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Elsewhere, Israeli forces launched air strikes on Hizbullah-controlled areas in Beirut for a third consecutive day on Thursday, hitting locations in the capital’s southern suburbs early in the morning after a night of heavy bombardments.

Plumes of smoke rose over Beirut as the strikes continued, while raids also reached southern Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil, where overnight air strikes and artillery shelling inflicted heavy damage on buildings and residential complexes, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

Five people were killed in air strikes on the towns of Bazourieh and Jumayjimah, NNA reported.

A scooter drivers past the damage left by Israeli air strikes in the Al-Chiyah area of southern Beirut on Thursday. Photograph: Wael Hamzeh/EPA
A scooter drivers past the damage left by Israeli air strikes in the Al-Chiyah area of southern Beirut on Thursday. Photograph: Wael Hamzeh/EPA

Lebanese authorities have not yet confirmed casualties from Thursday’s strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been largely evacuated. According to Lebanon’s health ministry, Israeli attacks have killed at least 3,365 people and wounded 14,344 across Lebanon since October 7th.

Ali Hassan Khalil, the political aide to Lebanon’s parliament speaker Nabih Berri, on Wednesday said Lebanese negotiators reached a preliminary understanding with US envoy Amos Hochstein on a framework for a ceasefire.

In an interview with the broadcaster Aljzaeera on Wednesday evening, Khalil said that this proposal was conveyed to the Israeli side through Hochstein, though Lebanon had yet to receive any response or suggested amendments from Israel.

He said any potential deal must be firmly based on United Nations Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, to help the Lebanese army keep its southern border area with Israel free of weapons or armed personnel other than those of the Lebanese state.

Khalil said Lebanon had no objection to US or French participation in overseeing ceasefire compliance. – Reuters