Israeli strikes hit the outskirts of Damascus, Syrian military says
Damascus (AP) — Israeli airstrikes hit several sites on the outskirts of Syria’s capital, Damascus, the Syrian military said Saturday.
The strikes came from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Syrian state news agency SANA reported, citing an unnamed military official. It added that air defenses shot down some and those that landed resulted in “some material losses.” It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
The strikes come as tensions across the Middle East grow with the Israel-Hamas war and a drone attack last month that killed three U.S. troops in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border.
The Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one of the strikes hit a residential building west of the capital and may have killed “figures of non-Syrian nationalities” but did not give more details. The observatory said Saturday’s assault was the 10th apparent Israeli strike on Syrian territory since the beginning of the year.
Presumed Israeli strikes in Syria in the past have killed high-ranking figures with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and allied groups. In December, a strike on a Damascus neighborhood killed a high-ranking Iranian general, Seyed Razi Mousavi, a longtime adviser of the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in Syria.
Tensions have also flared elsewhere in the region. A U.S. airstrike in Baghdad Wednesday killed a commander of Kataib Hezbollah, one of the most powerful armed groups in Iraq, as part of Washington’s retaliation for the killing of three U.S. troops in Jordan last month.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias that has launched numerous attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, issued a call Friday for fighters to join its ranks to drive “occupying forces” out of the country.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has conducted about 170 attacks on bases with U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria over the last four months, saying they were due to Washington’s support of Israel in its war in Gaza and that it aims to expel U.S. forces from the region.
Iraqi and U.S. officials launched formal talks last month to wind down the presence of U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq, but the talks were paused following the death of three U.S. troops in a strike in Jordan attributed to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. Officials from both countries announced Thursday that the talks will resume, with the next meeting set for Sunday.
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Zeyad reported from Baghdad. Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.