KUALA LUMPUR – Israeli airstrike on a residence in Damascus, Syria yesterday killed two Lebanese nationals, including Hassan Jafar Qasir, the son-in-law of late Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
The strike, which hit the first floor of a three-storey building in Mazzeh Western Villas neighbourhood, killed three people including one Syrian national, reported Xinhua. The building is said to be frequented by Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) leaders.
At least four others, whose identities remain unknown, were injured according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Defence Ministry said three civilians were killed and three others injured in the strike. The ministry said the attack was launched from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Israel killed Nasrallah in a powerful airstrike in the Lebanese capital Beirut on September 27.
Yesterday’s attack marks the second Israeli airstrike in the area this week. On Tuesday morning, Israel targeted a site approximately 500m away from the latest strike which also killed three people including a journalist, and injured nine others.
Yesterday, Iran launched dozens of missiles against the Israeli regime, where it aimed at military targets.
In a statement, IRGC said the missile attack was a retaliation against Israel for the various assassinations they carried out and the crimes they did on Palestine and Lebanon.
“In response to the martyrdom of Ismail Haniyeh, Hassan Nasrallah, and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforushan, we targeted the heart of the occupied territories,” IRGC said.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stated that his country’s missile attack on Israel was based on legitimate rights against the Zionist regime’s aggression.
In a dangerous escalation last week, the Israeli military assassinated Nasrallah, Nilforushan, and other Hezbollah leaders – wiping out an entire densely populated southern Beirut neighbourhood by reportedly dropping 85 American bombs, each weighing 1,000kg.
Israel said Iran fired about 180 missiles but claimed that a large number of them were intercepted by its air defence systems.
Israel has killed about 42,000 people in Gaza and more than 1,000 in Lebanon in less than 12 months. – October 3, 2024