Syria Blames Israel for Airstrike in Damascus; 2 Dead

Syrian military officials and state media claimed that an Israeli airstrike killed two people after a munition hit a residential building in the Kafr Sousa district in the capital, Damascus, on Wednesday (Feb. 21).

A military source cited by Syrian state TV said that the strike, which allegedly happened at about 09:40 local time (06:40 UTC), also wounded a number of other people. The deceased were identified as civilians.

Images published by Syrian state media showed the damage the building sustained, with the defense source saying that the "attack did not achieve its aims."

Witnesses to the blast heard several back-to-back explosions, which scared children at a nearby school, while ambulances rushed to the scene.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)

Syria's 'Little Iran'

Reuters reported that Kafr Sousa - the neighborhood within the Syrian capital that hosts residential buildings, schools, Iranian cultural centers, and even a nearby heavily guarded complex used by security agencies - was previously attacked in February 2023 and killed Iranian military experts.

Meanwhile, Iran's semi-official Student News Network said that no Iranian citizens were killed in the strike. The Shi'ite Muslim religious regime has been a major supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during Syria's 12-year-old civil conflict.

Since Iran was supporting the current Syrian regime, as well as the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Syria has drawn regular Israeli air strikes meant to curb Tehran's extraterritorial military power.

Such strikes increased after Israel retaliated against Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack, with a handful of Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers killed in suspected Israeli strikes on Syria since December.

As a result, the Guards have scaled back deployment of their senior officers in Syria and have planned to rely more on allied Shi'ite militia to preserve their sway there, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this month.