At Least 5 Dead in Airstrikes in, Around Damascus, Blamed on Israel

Airstrikes in and around Damascus killed several people and damaged apartment buildings. At least five people were killed, as well as a soldier, and 15 injured in an attack blamed on Israel, the New York Times reported, citing Syrian sources. The rocket struck early Sunday morning hit a building in central Damascus’s Kafr Sousa neighborhood located near a large, heavily guarded security complex close to Iranian installations.

SANA reported that “significant material damage” was caused to the Institute of Applied Arts in Damascus Castle and the cultural center in Kafr Sousa.

Syrian air defenses are “confronting hostile targets in the sky around Damascus,” the state news agency SANA reported. The watchdog group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 15 people had been killed in what it called “an Israeli bombing.” Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the attack. It is the first attack on Syria since the 7.8-magnitute earthquake on February 6 that has left thousands dead in Syria.

Israel has carried out hundreds of air and missile strikes in Syria over the last decade, some acknowledged and most now, many against Iran-backed troops.