Israeli airstrikes kill five in Damascus: Syrian state media report

Israeli airstrikes targeted a residential neighbourhood in the Syrian capital of Damascus early Sunday killing at least five people and wounding 15 Syrian state news reportedLoud explosions were heard over a central area of the capital around 1230 am local time and SANA reported that Syrian air defences were confronting hostile targets in the sky around Damascus Syrian state media agency SANA citing a military source reported that five people had been killed among them a soldier and 15 civilians wounded along with destruction of a number of residential buildingsThe news agency also reported that the strikes had damaged buildings connected to a medieval citadel in central Damascus and an applied arts institute housed there The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights a UKbased war monitor reported that 15 people including a woman were killed in strikes targeting sites connected with Iranian militias and the Lebanese militant group HezbollahThey took place in the Damascus countryside and on an Iranian school in the neighbourhood of Kafr Sousa in the capital it saidSamer Abdo an engineer living in an apartment building that was struck in Kafr Sousa on an upscale residential street was picking through shattered glass and broken wood in his apartment Sunday morning Abdo told The Associated Press that his family had woken up in terror to the building shakingWe thought at first that it was an earthquake like the one that happened two weeks ago he said Mohamad Dulo another resident of the neighbourhood said All the windows fell into the street and people ran down to the streets as wellDulo said he did not understand why the area was targeted Its a residential area he said There is nothing military hereDirector General of Antiquities and Museums Mohamad Awad told the AP that the damaged buildings around the Damascus Citadel were arts and heritage institutes as well as the offices for managing the citadel Its without a doubt that it will cost a lot to rebuild or restore some of the buildings that were destroyed in the attack Awad said adding that the strike destroyed rare and expensive equipment and machinery that has been hard to obtain due to sanctions and the countrys economic crisisThere was no immediate statement from Israel on the attack A spokesperson for the Israeli military declined to commentAn official with an Iranbacked group denied media reports that the strike on Kafr Sousa targeted Iranian or Palestinian officials The strike hit a parking garage under a building and killed 10 civilians and troops all of them Syrians he said He denied that there had been any Iranians or Hezbollah members killed The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the mediaIsraeli airstrikes frequently target sites in the vicinity of Damascus but it is rare for them to target residential areas in the city The Saturday night strikes were the first since a devastating 78 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on Feb 6Also read Death toll in Turkey and Syria earthquake surpasses 43000Syrias foreign ministry condemned the attack coming at a time when Syria was healing its wounds burying its martyrs and receiving condolences sympathy and international humanitarian support in the face of the devastating earthquake It called on the United Nations Security Council to condemn itIrans semiofficial Tasnim news agency Sunday said no Iranian nationals were harmed in Israels strike on Damascus It said one of the rockets hit the same place where former Hezbollah commander Imad Moghnieh was killed in 2008The last reported attack on Damascus was on Jan 2 when the Syrian army reported that Israels military fired missiles toward the international airport of Syrias capital early Monday putting it out of service and killing two soldiers and wounding two othersIsrael has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside governmentcontrolled parts of Syria in recent years but rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations Israel has acknowledged however that it targets bases of Iranallied militant groups such as Lebanons Hezbollah which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assads forces The Israeli strikes come amid a wider shadow war between Israel and IranThe attacks on airports in Damascus and Aleppo were over fears they were being used to funnel Iranian weaponry into the country While he did not directly mention the strikes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of his Cabinet on Sunday that Israel would continue to defend itself from what it sees as Irans aggressionIrans 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 he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no 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