Israeli Strike Targets Residential Building in Syria’s Damascus, Say State Media

People gather by damaged vehicles at the site of a reported Israeli air strike on a residential building, where reportedly senior members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Lebanese Hezbollah meet, in the Mezzeh suburb on the western outskirts of Syria's capital Damascus on October 8, 2024. (AFP)
People gather by damaged vehicles at the site of a reported Israeli air strike on a residential building, where reportedly senior members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Lebanese Hezbollah meet, in the Mezzeh suburb on the western outskirts of Syria's capital Damascus on October 8, 2024. (AFP)
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Israeli Strike Targets Residential Building in Syria’s Damascus, Say State Media

People gather by damaged vehicles at the site of a reported Israeli air strike on a residential building, where reportedly senior members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Lebanese Hezbollah meet, in the Mezzeh suburb on the western outskirts of Syria's capital Damascus on October 8, 2024. (AFP)
People gather by damaged vehicles at the site of a reported Israeli air strike on a residential building, where reportedly senior members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and Lebanese Hezbollah meet, in the Mezzeh suburb on the western outskirts of Syria's capital Damascus on October 8, 2024. (AFP)

An Israeli strike targeted a residential building in the Mezzah suburb west of the Syrian capital Damascus, Syria's state news agency reported on Tuesday.

Preliminary reports indicated that the strike had resulted in injuries among civilians, Syrian state media reported.

State media earlier reported that Syria's air defenses had intercepted "hostile" targets in the vicinity of Damascus.

Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years but has ramped up such raids since last year's Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian group Hamas on Israeli territory that sparked the Gaza war.



Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Syrian Youth Will Resist Incoming Government

A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Syrian Youth Will Resist Incoming Government

A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)
A defaced portrait of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seen in Damascus, Syria, 18 December 2024 (issued 22 December 2024). (EPA)

Iran's supreme leader on Sunday said that young Syrians will resist the new government emerging after the overthrow of President Bashar sl-Assad as he again accused the United States and Israel of sowing chaos in the country.

Iran had provided crucial support to Assad throughout Syria's nearly 14-year civil war, which erupted after he launched a violent crackdown on a popular uprising against his family's decades-long rule. Syria had long served as a key conduit for Iranian aid to Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in an address on Sunday that the “young Syrian has nothing to lose" and suffers from insecurity following Assad's fall.

“What can he do? He should stand with strong will against those who designed and those who implemented the insecurity," Khamenei said. “God willing, he will overcome them.”

He accused the United States and Israel of plotting against Assad's government in order to seize resources, saying: “Now they feel victory, the Americans, the Zionist regime and those who accompanied them.”

Iran and its armed proxies in the region have suffered a series of major setbacks over the past year, with Israel battering Hamas in Gaza and landing heavy blows on Hezbollah before they agreed to a ceasefire in Lebanon last month.

Khamenei denied that such groups were proxies of Iran, saying they fought because of their own beliefs and that Tehran did not depend on them. “If one day we plan to take action, we do not need proxy force,” he said.