Israeli airstrikes on Damascus kill 15 Islamic Jihad leaders
DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) – The Islamic Jihad Movement announced Friday that several of its senior leaders were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting its facilities in Damascus on Thursday. The facilities reportedly provided civil services to the group’s members.
“Targeting civilian institutions and residential homes is part of Israel’s ongoing crimes against our nation’s people,” the movement said in a statement, adding that the strikes “reflect its [Israel’s] military failure to confront resistance forces on the ground, particularly in Gaza and southern Lebanon.”
Palestinian sources close to Islamic Jihad confirmed that Rasmi Abu Issa, the movement’s head of Arab relations in Damascus, was killed in the attack. However, the fate of Abdul Aziz al-Minawi, a senior leader and former political bureau member, remains unclear due to the extensive destruction of the building, according to al-Hadath news.
The Syrian Ministry of Defense reported that the Israeli airstrike occurred at around 3:20 PM on Thursday, launched from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. The strikes targeted residential buildings in the Mezzeh neighborhood of Damascus and the town of Qudsaya in the west of Damascus.
The ministry stated that the airstrike resulted in the killing of 15 people and the injury of 16 others, including women and children. It also caused extensive material damage to private properties and the targeted and neighboring buildings.
Israeli Army Radio confirmed that the strikes were aimed at Islamic Jihad’s main headquarters in Damascus. The attack comes amid heightened tensions, as Israel continues its operations against resistance movements in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.