BEIRUT
\nAn Israeli air strike on Damascus killed 15 people early on Sunday and badly damaged a building in a district housing state security agencies, a war monitor said.
\nCivilians, including two women, were among those killed in \u201cthe deadliest Israeli attack in the Syrian capital\u201d since the civil war began, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
\nThe overnight strike cratered a road and wrecked the adjacent 10-storey building in the Kafr Sousa district, which is home to senior state officials and Syrian intelligence headquarters, said the Britain-based Observatory.
\nA woman was also killed in the Mazraa district, possibly hit when Syrian anti-aircraft munitions crashed down, it added.
\nIt was not immediately clear who was the intended target of the strike, which correspondents reported shook Damascus and left a gaping hole in the street.
\nOther missiles overnight hit a warehouse used by pro-regime Iranian and Hezbollah fighters near Damascus, said the Observatory, which relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria.
\nIranian news agency Tasnim said \u201cno Iranian was harmed\u201d, adding that the strikes hit \u201cexactly the spot\u201d where Hezbollah\u2019s top commander Imad Mughniyeh was killed in a 2008 car bombing the group blamed on Israel.
\nSyria\u2019s defence ministry gave an initial death toll of five, including one soldier, and 15 wounded civilians, some in critical condition.
\nShortly after midnight \u201cthe Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights targeting several areas in Damascus and its vicinity, including residential neighbourhoods\u201d, a statement said.
\nDefence forces \u201cshot down several missiles\u201d, it added.
\nHistoric buildings near the medieval Damascus citadel were also \u201cseverely damaged\u201d, said the head of the Syrian antiquities department, Nazir Awad, blaming \u201can Israeli missile\u201d.
\nAn Israeli military spokesperson said: \u201cIsrael does not comment on reports in foreign media.\u201d
\nSyrian government ally Russia condemned the strike, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also urging Israel \u201cto put an end to armed provocations\u201d against Damascus that could endanger \u201cthe entire region\u201d.
\nMore than decade of war Israel, during more than a decade of war in Syria, has carried out hundreds of air strikes against its neighbour, primarily targeting the army, Iranian forces and Hezbollah, allies of the Damascus regime.
\n\u201cWe will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons and we will not allow it to entrench on our northern border,\u201d Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Sunday\u2019s cabinet meeting, without referring directly to the Damascus strike.
\nIn Tehran, foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani \u201cstrongly condemned the attacks of the Zionist regime against targets in Damascus and its suburbs, including against certain residential buildings\u201d.
\nThe raids had left \u201ca number of innocent Syrian citizens\u201d dead and injured, he said.
\nThe Gaza-based Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad also denounced the strikes.
\nAn Islamic Jihad official said none of its members were killed or wounded, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
\nThe Syrian conflict started in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful protests, and escalated to pull in multiple foreign powers and global jihadists.
\nNearly half a million people have been killed, and the conflict has forced around half of Syria\u2019s pre-war population from their homes.
\nPresident Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime receives military support from Russia as well as from Iran and Tehran-allied groups, including Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah, which are declared enemies of Israel.
\nSunday\u2019s attack comes more than a month after an Israeli missile strike hit Damascus International Airport, killing four people, including two soldiers.
\nThe January 2 strike hit positions of Hezbollah and pro-Iranian groups, including a weapons warehouse, the Observatory said.
\nSyria is currently seeking to recover from the February 6 earthquake, which did not affect Damascus but which killed more than 44,000 people across the country\u2019s north and southern Turkiye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIRUT An Israeli air strike on Damascus killed 15 people early on Sunday and badly damaged a building in a district housing state security agencies, a war monitor said. Civilians, including two women, were among those killed in \u201cthe deadliest Israeli attack in the Syrian capital\u201d since the civil war began, said Rami Abdel Rahman […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314977,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-314964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n