Syrian state media: Israeli airstrikes kill 5 in Damascus

By ABBY SEWELL
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state media says that Israeli airstrikes have targeted a residential neighborhood in central Damascus. News agency SANA reports that at least five people were killed and 15 wounded in the early Sunday attack. Loud explosions were heard over the capital around 12:30 a.m. local time and SANA said Syrian air defenses were “confronting hostile targets in the sky around Damascus.” There has been no immediate statement from Israel on the attack. Israeli airstrikes frequently target sites in the vicinity of Damascus. The strikes come amid a wider shadow war between Israel and its archenemy Iran, a close ally of Syria’s President Bashar Assad in the country’s ongoing war.