The strikes hit the Syrian capital of Damascus and a military site near the city of Homs, according to local authorities. Israeli airstrikes on Thursday struck the Kafr Sousa neighborhood in central Damascus and a military installation in the countryside around Homs, killing one soldier and wounding seven others, according to the Syrian Ministry of Defence.
The ministry said the strikes had caused “material damage”, without elaborating. Explosions in Damascus were earlier reported by Syrian state media after the attack on the residential building in Kafr Sousa.
Usually, Israel does not comment on its operations inside Syria and this time there came no comment either after airstrikes. The attacks came in the same week that the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the region to advocate a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel has carried out attacks on sites in Syria believed to be linked to Iran in the past and has stepped up this since the October 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas. Syrian state media reported an earlier strike this week by a guided missile in the Mazzeh area of the capital Damascus, which Israel said killed a Hezbollah commander involved in arms transfers from Iran.
Israel has carried out at least 220 airstrikes and artillery raids in Syria in the last few months, per the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. In April alone, a massive airstrike targeted the Iranian consular building in Damascus, killing seven members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen alerted the UN Security Council that the country risks sliding into a “military, humanitarian, and economic storm,” drawing emphasis to the regional spillover effects from continued conflicts, especially from Gaza and Lebanon. This surge in the latest spate of Israeli airstrikes represents the most extensive campaign seen in over a decade, even reaching the heart of Damascus.
As Blinken carries on his diplomacy in the Middle East, Washington’s goal is to avoid further escalation amid heightened tensions after a missile attack from Iran, calling for restraint by all sides.
