Israel has ramped up attacks on Iran-linked targets in Syria since it began its war on Gaza last year.
At least 15 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on residential buildings in Damascus, Syrian state media reported.
“The Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan [Heights], targeting residential buildings in the Mazzeh neighbourhood of Damascus and the Qudssaya area in the Damascus countryside, killing 15 people and injuring 16 others,” the ministry said on Thursday, adding that the death toll could rise.
The Israeli military said it carried out air strikes targeting several buildings and command centres belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad armed group.
The strikes are a “significant blow” to the Gaza-based group and its operatives, the Israeli army statement says on Telegram.
An official with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Group told The Associated Press news agency the strike in Mazzeh targeted one of the group’s offices, and that several members of the group were killed.
“[The Palestinian Islamic Jihad] is a Gaza-based group, a group that participated along with Hamas in the October 7 attacks in Israel last year,” Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford said, reporting from Beirut.
“In the last few weeks or so, there has been an escalation in Israel targeting infrastructure and according to Israel, Hezbollah-related targets in Syria. Certainly, this is the first time in a long while, that Palestinian Islamic Jihad is targeted,” he added.
Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years but has ramped up such raids since last year’s October 7 attack led by the Palestinian group Hamas. Israel also launched its continuing assault on Gaza, which has killed at least 43,736 people and wounded 103,370 others, according to Palestinian authorities.
Commanders in Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard based in Syria have been known to reside in Mazzeh, according to residents who fled after recent strikes that killed some key figures from the groups.
Mazzeh’s high-rise blocks have been used by the authorities in the past to house leaders of Palestinian factions including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
“It is also interesting to point out that in recent weeks Israel has been trying to cut weapons lines for Hezbollah. This strike [Thursday’s strike] doesn’t seem to be necessarily related to that … but this attack again highlights the length and reach of Israel,” Stratford added.