Syrian state media: Israel airstrikes kill 5 in Damascus

Israeli air strikes targeted a residential neighbourhood in central Damascus early on Sunday, Syrian state news reported.

Loud explosions were heard over the capital around 12:30am 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 buildings.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported that 15 people, including a woman, were killed in strikes targeting sites connected with Iranian militias and the Hezbollah group.

There was no immediate statement from Israel on the attack. Israeli air strikes frequently target sites in the vicinity of Damascus.

The Saturday night strikes were the first since a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria on February 6.

The last reported attack on Damascus was on January 2, when the Syrian army reported that Israel’s military fired missiles towards the international airport of Syria’s capital, putting it out of service and killing two soldiers and wounding two others.