DAMASCUS: An Israeli air strike killed early Sunday 15 people including two Syrian civilians and badly damaged a building in a Damascus district housing state security agencies, a war monitor said.
The strike targeted a meeting that included Syrian regime officers and was 鈥渢he deadliest Israeli attack in the Syrian capital鈥� since the civil war began, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The overnight strike cratered a road and wrecked the adjacent 10-story building in the Kafr Sousa district, which is home to senior state officials and Syrian intelligence headquarters, said the Britain-based Observatory.
A woman was also killed in the Mazraa district, possibly hit when Syrian anti-aircraft munitions crashed down, it added.
It was not immediately clear who was the intended target of the strike, which AFP correspondents reported shook Damascus and left a gaping hole in the street.
Other 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.
Iranian news agency Tasnim said 鈥渘o Iranian was harmed,鈥� adding that the strikes hit 鈥渆xactly the spot鈥� where Hezbollah鈥檚 top commander Imad Mughniyeh was killed in a 2008 car bombing that the Lebanese Shiite group blamed on Israel.
Syria鈥檚 defense ministry gave an initial death toll of five, including one soldier, and 15 wounded civilians, some in critical condition.
Shortly after midnight 鈥渢he 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 neighborhoods,鈥� a statement said.
Defense forces 鈥渟hot down several missiles,鈥� it added.
Historic buildings near the medieval Damascus citadel were also 鈥渟everely damaged,鈥� said the head of the Syrian antiquities department, Nazir Awad, blaming 鈥渁n Israeli missile.鈥�
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said Sunday that the strike was 鈥渁 crime against humanity, especially as Syria races against time to face the disastrous consequences of the devastating earthquake.鈥�
Syria is currently seeking to recover from the February 6 earthquake, which did not affect Damascus but killed more than 44,000 people across the country鈥檚 north and west, and southern Turkiye.
An Israeli military spokesperson said: 鈥淚srael does not comment on reports in foreign media.鈥�
Syrian government ally Russia condemned the strike, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also urging Israel 鈥渢o put an end to armed provocations鈥� against Damascus that could endanger 鈥渢he entire region.鈥�
Israel, during more than a decade of war in Syria, has carried out hundreds of air strikes against its neighbor, primarily targeting the army, Iranian forces and Hezbollah, allies of the Damascus regime.
鈥淲e will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons and we will not allow it to entrench on our northern border,鈥� Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Sunday鈥檚 cabinet meeting, without referring directly to the Damascus strike.
In Tehran, foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani 鈥渟trongly condemned the attacks of the Zionist regime against targets in Damascus and its suburbs, including against certain residential buildings.鈥�
The raids had left 鈥渁 number of innocent Syrian citizens鈥� dead and injured, he said.
The Gaza-based Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad also denounced the strikes.
An Islamic Jihad official told AFP that none of its members in Damascus were killed or wounded, requesting anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The Syrian conflict started in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful protests, and escalated to pull in multiple foreign powers and global jihadists.
Nearly half a million people have been killed, and the conflict has forced around half of Syria鈥檚 pre-war population from their homes.
President Bashar Assad鈥檚 regime receives military support from Russia as well as from Iran and Tehran-allied armed Shiite groups, including Hezbollah, which are declared enemies of Israel.
Sunday鈥檚 attack comes more than a month after an Israeli missile strike hit Damascus International Airport, killing four people, including two soldiers.
The January 2 strike hit positions of Hezbollah and pro-Iranian groups, including a weapons warehouse, the Observatory said.