Israel Strikes Building in Central Damascus, at Least Five Killed

Facts

• The Syrian military have said that an Israeli airstrike on Sunday killed at least four civilians and one soldier, and left multiple others injured in the central Damascus neighborhood of Kafr Sousa. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, however, has put the death toll as high as 15.¹
• The strike hit an area that, according to unnamed intelligence sources, contains Iranian military installations. An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment on the incident.²
• Syrian state media reported that several civilian homes and a number of Damascus neighborhoods were damaged, with unnamed Syrian military sources saying stray anti-aircraft rockets were fired in response to the strike, hitting several other locations.³
• Neither the exact target of, nor the extent of the damage from the strike was immediately clear, as it is possible that some of the bombing was the result of the Syrian air defense missiles.⁴
• Israel has launched strikes against Syrian targets since the inception of the Syrian civil war in 2011, though they don't usually target residential neighborhoods and Israeli officials rarely comment on such strikes.⁵
• The incident is the first reported strike since northern Syria and southern Turkey experienced a devastating earthquake two weeks ago. The last strike on Damascus was launched against the capital's international airport on Jan. 2.⁶

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²Reuters, ³Al Jazeera, ⁴Associated Press, ⁵Guardian and ⁶Wall Street Journal.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Times of israel. Israel has been clear that it will not permit Iran to freely move weapons and fighters through Syria if such activities threaten Israeli security. It is therefore legitimate for Israel to target Iranian assets in any of the countries into which Iran has dug its tentacles. Tehran is using the tragic earthquake as a cover to move weapons into Syria and, unfortunately, Israel must defend itself by responding to this kind of militaristic aggression.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Al mayadeen english. This is just another example of Israel's unjustified aggression toward Syria and the resistance as a whole. While the West continually lectures the world on national sovereignty, it says nothing when Israel mercilessly kills innocent Syrians and Palestinians. Even as Syrians are being pulled from the rubble following a massive humanitarian disaster, Israel is continuing to bomb vulnerable neighborhoods — the country must be held accountable for all innocent lives lost in Damascus as a result of these strikes.

Predictions