Two dead in Israeli strike on Syrian capital

An Israeli strike on a residential area of Damascus killed at least two people Wednesday, Syrian state media reported, the latest deaths from an escalating Israeli air campaign since the Gaza war erupted.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria since civil conflict broke out in 2011, but has increased pressure on its Iran-backed neighbour since Hamas's unprecedented attack from the Gaza Strip on October 7.

"The Israeli enemy carried out an air attack with a number of missiles... targeting a residential building in the Kafr Sousa neighbourhood in Damascus," said a statement from a military source carried by state news agency SANA.

"The attack led to the martyrdom of two civilians, wounded others and caused material damage to the building" and surrounding structures, the statement added.

The high-security Kafr Sousa area of the Syrian capital is home to senior security officials, intelligence headquarters and an Iranian cultural centre.

The Israeli army told AFP it had no comment.

An AFP photographer said the strike hit a nine-storey building, with damage centred around the fourth floor.

The exterior of the building was partially blackened, while firefighters scrambled to put out the resulting blaze.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, gave a death toll of three, saying that "a Syrian civilian" was killed as well as two foreign nationals.

Later Wednesday, the Observatory said that in a fresh attack, Israel bombed "positions belonging to Iran-backed groups southwest of Damascus".

An AFP correspondent in the capital reported hearing a strong explosion hours after the initial attack.

The Observatory also reported Israeli fire targeting areas near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israel has been accused of intensifying its strikes against Iranian and allied targets in both Syria and Lebanon at the risk of creating a new front in its war against Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Israel rarely comments on individual strikes but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in Syria.

In December, an air strike blamed on Israel in the Sayyida Zeinab district south of Damascus killed Razi Moussavi, a senior commander of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

He was the most senior Quds Force commander to be killed outside Iran in nearly four years.

In January, another strike blamed on Israel on Damascus's Mazzeh neighbourhood killed the Guards' Syria spy chief and his deputy, Iran's Mehr news agency reported. The Observatory said 13 people were killed in the strike.