Israeli Airstrikes Hit Damascus In Syria Targeting Islamic Jihad Sites, 15 Killed: Reports

Damascus: Israel carried out at least two airstrikes on a western neighbourhood of Damascus and one of capital's suburbs on Thursday, killing at least 15 people and wounding anor 16, Syria's state news agency said.

airstrikes on Mazzeh neighbourhood in Damascus and suburb of Qudsaya, northwest of capital, struck two buildings, SANA news agency said. An Associated Press journalist at scene in Mazzeh said a five-story building was damaged by a missile that hit basement.

Israeli military said it h hit infrastructure sites and command centres of Islamic Jih militant group in Syria, and h “inflicted significant damage to terrorist organization's command centre and to its operatives”.

airstrikes in Damascus and nearby suburb came shortly before Ali Larijani, an viser to Iran's supreme leer Ali Khamenei, was scheduled to meet in Syrian capital with representatives of Palestinian factions at Iranian Embassy in Mazzeh.

Israeli military said Islamic Jih h participated alongside Hamas, Palestinian militant group in Gaza Strip, in Oct 7, 2023 attacks on sourn Israel that killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and saw 250 ors abducted into Gaza.

military “will continue to operate against Islamic Jih terrorist organization wherever necessary,” it said.

Israel's retaliation to Oct 7 attack and ensuing Israel-Hamas war has spilled into wider region, affecting Lebanon, and Syria and leing to strikes between Israel and Iran. war has left much of Gaza in ruins and has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to local health authorities who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

An official with Palestinian Islamic Jih Group said that strike in Mazzeh targeted one of ir offices and that several members of group were killed. official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorised to speak to media.

Syria's state news agency SANA said country's air defences were activated against a “hostile target” south of central city of Homs. It gave no furr details.

Tehran has been a main backer of Syrian President Bashar Ass's government since a 2011 uprising turned into a full-blown civil war and has played an instrumental role in turning tide of conflict in his favour.

Iran has sent scores of military visers and thousands of Iran-backed fighters from around Middle East to Syria to fight on Ass's side. Tehran has also been an economic lifeline for Ass, sending fuel and credit lines worth billions of dollars.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria targeting members of neighbouring Lebanon's Hezbollah and officials from Iranian-backed groups.

Hezbollah began firing into Israel on Oct 8, 2023, in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. Since n, more than 3,200 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 14,200 wounded, country's Health Ministry reported. In Israel, 76 people have been killed, including 31 soldiers.

Lebanon's state media said an Israeli airstrike Thursday hit a building in Baalbek city in eastern Lebanon, killing at least nine people and wounding five ors.

strike on Baalbek came without warning. Israeli military did not immediately comment and target was not clear.

Speaking Thursday evening, Israeli military spokesman Rear m Daniel Hagari said that over past week, Israel h "struck more than 300 targets from air across Lebanon, including about 40 targets in heart of Dahiyeh in Beirut”.

Israeli warplanes intensified airstrikes on Thursday, targeting various areas in sourn and eastern Lebanon, including outskirts of sourn port city of Tyre city and Nabatieh province, National News Agency said.

Throughout day, sporic airstrikes targeted Beirut's sourn suburbs in a clear uptick in attacks on area over past two days, with Israeli army issuing evacuation warnings for several locations and buildings in suburbs.

Israeli military said it carried out strikes on Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh area, including weapons storage facilities and command centres.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said death toll in Lebanon since war began on Oct 8, 2023, has reached 3,365 while those wounded are 14,344. Nearly 1.2 million people have been displaced.

Before war intensified on Sept 23, Hezbollah said it h lost nearly 500 members but group has stopped releasing statements about ir killed fighters since.

United Nations peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix, speaking during a visit to Lebanon, said UN remains committed to keeping its peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, in place in all of its positions in sourn Lebanon, despite intense ongoing battles between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants.

UNIFIL has continued to monitor escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah across boundary known as Blue Line despite Israeli calls for peacekeepers to pull back five km (three miles) from border. UNIFIL has accused Israel of deliberately destroying observation equipment, and 13 peacekeepers have been injured in fighting.

Lacroix visited some of wounded peacekeepers during his trip.

UNIFIL forces “continue to be deployed in all positions, and we think it is very important to preserve that presence everywhere,” LaCroix said. "...H we vacated some of positions, n that would have certainly jeopardised capacity for UNIFIL to continue today, but probably even more importantly, that would have significantly undermined capacity for UNIFIL to play a role, tomorrow, when cessation of hostilities takes place - hopefully sooner than later.” Lacroix said re is still a “large consensus that resolution 1701 remains critical framework for settlement,” referring to UN Security Council resolution that ended brutal monthlong war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, but which has never been fully implemented by eir party.