In a region marked by tension, especially following the drone attack on a US base in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian border that claimed the lives of three American soldiers, explosions have rocked the Syrian capital, Damascus.
According to sources from Al Arabiya/Al Hadath on Monday, a headquarters belonging to Iranian militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was targeted in the southern Damascus district of Sayyida Zainab.
Rami Abdulrahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed to Al Arabiya/Al Hadath that an Israeli airstrike had hit a location housing Iran-backed militias in the Sayyida Zainab area.
The strike involved three missiles and resulted in six casualties.
However, Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, reported that the Israeli attack targeted an Iranian advisory center, causing casualties and injuries.
In contrast, the Iranian Ambassador to Syria, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, denied the bombing of any advisory center near Damascus, emphasizing that there were no Iranian casualties, whether military or civilian.
While an official Syrian military source previously confirmed in a statement from the Ministry of Defense that Israel had carried out an “aerial aggression on several points south of Damascus,” resulting in the deaths of several Iranian advisors, as well as civilian casualties and some material losses.
It is worth mentioning that 13 individuals, including five advisors from the Revolutionary Guard, lost their lives in an Israeli airstrike on a building in the Mezzeh neighborhood of western Damascus last Saturday.
The building housed Syrian security and military headquarters, as well as Palestinian leaders, embassies, and UN organizations.
At the end of last month (December 25, 2023), a leader of the Revolutionary Guard, Radhi Musavi, was killed near Damascus.
Earlier this month, Saleh al-Arouri, the Deputy Chief of the Political Bureau of Hamas, was assassinated in the southern Beirut suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold.
Additionally, military commander in Hezbollah, Wissam al-Tawil, was killed in southern Lebanon. Israel has been accused of carrying out these operations.
These strikes coincide with the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip since October 7, raising international concerns about its expanding scope.
