DAMASCUS
\nAn Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in the Kafr Sousa district in Syria\u2019s capital Damascus on Wednesday, killing two people, Syrian state media and a security source said.
\nA military source cited by Syrian state TV said the strike at about 9:40 a.m. (0640 GMT) wounded a number of other people, identifying the dead as civilians.
\nImages published by Syrian state media showed the charred side of a multi-storey building. The security source said the \u201cattack did not achieve its aims\u201d.
\nThe neighbourhood hosts residential buildings, schools and Iranian cultural centres, and lies near a large, heavily-guarded complex used by security agencies. The district was struck in an Israeli attack in February 2023 that killed Iranian military experts. Witnesses heard several back-to-back explosions. The blasts scared children at a nearby school and ambulances rushed to the area, the witnesses told Reuters.
\nThere was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
\nIran\u2019s semi-official Student News Network said no Iranian citizens were killed in the strike.
\nOn Wednesday afternoon, a Reuters witness heard another large blast in the capital that shook the windows of homes. Local Syrian outlet Sham FM said several explosions were heard in the capital without specifying the cause.
\nIran has been a major backer of President Bashar al-Assad during Syria\u2019s nearly 12-year-old conflict. Its support for Damascus and the Lebanese group Hezbollah has drawn regular Israeli air strikes meant to curb Tehran\u2019s extraterritorial military power.
\nThose strikes have ramped up in line with flaring regional tensions since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, with more than half a dozen Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers killed in suspected Israeli strikes on Syria since December.
\nAs a result, the Guards have scaled back deployment of their senior officers in Syria and have planned to rely more on allied Shia militia to preserve their sway there, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this month.
\nIran, a backer of Hamas, has sought to stay out of the conflict itself even as it supports groups that have entered the fray from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria\u2013the so-called \u201cAxis of Resistance\u201d that is hostile to Israeli and US interests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DAMASCUS An Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in the Kafr Sousa district in Syria\u2019s capital Damascus on Wednesday, killing two people, Syrian state media and a security source said. A military source cited by Syrian state TV said the strike at about 9:40 a.m. (0640 GMT) wounded a number of other people, identifying the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-388628","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n