UPDATE 2 – Syria says 15 killed in new Israeli airstrike in Damascus

UPDATES WITH ISRAELI CONFIRMATION

By Anadolu staff

ISTANBUL (AA) – At least 15 people were killed and 16 others injured in an Israeli airstrike in the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday, local media said.

Women and children were among the victims in the attack that targeted residential buildings in Al Mazzeh and Qudssaya neighborhoods in Damascus, the state news agency SANA reported.

SANA said Israeli warplanes carried out the attack from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The news agency said Syrian air defenses also intercepted a “hostile projectile” in Homs in central Syria.

It did not specify if Israel was behind the incident.

The Israeli army, for its part, confirmed that its warplanes struck what it called infrastructure sites and command centers belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in Syria.

A military statement claimed that the attack inflicted “significant damage to the group’s command center and to its operatives.”

There has been no comment from the Islamic Jihad group on the Israeli statement.

On Nov. 5, the Israeli army said that its fighter jets had targeted Hezbollah weapons warehouses in Al-Qusayr city in western Syria.

Israel, which rarely comments on military operations, has conducted airstrikes in Syria since 2011, focusing on Iranian and Syrian forces and Hezbollah targets.

The latest airstrikes highlight continuing regional tensions amid Israel’s military offensives in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar