Israel launches 2nd airstrike on Syrian capital within hours

Damascus, Feb 22 (IANS) Israel conducted its second missile attack on areas southwest of the Syrian capital of Damascus within hours, according to reports from a war monitor and local media.The war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Wednesday that Israel targeted sites belonging to Iranian militias in the areas, adding there is currently no information regarding any human or material losses as a result of the attack, Xinhua news agency reported.Additionally, rocket shells launched by Israeli forces landed in Beit Jinn in the western countryside of Damascus, near the border with the occupied Golan Heights, according to the Britain-based watchdog group.The Sham FM radio, a pro-government media in Syria, said that air defences intercepted missiles in the southern and southwestern countryside of Damascus. Furthermore, Israeli rocket fire was also reported in Mount al-Sheikh of southern Syria.Eyewitnesses in the Mazzeh neighbourhood west of Damascus told Xinhua news agency that a thundering sound similar to that of an earthquake was heard when the Israeli strike occurred.Earlier on Wednesday, an Israeli missile attack hit a residential building in the Kafar Sousah neighbourhood in Damascus, resulting in the deaths of two civilians, as confirmed by the Syrian Defence Ministry.The observatory suggested that the attack in Kafar Sousah was an assassination attempt targeting individuals associated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).While Israel has frequently carried out missile strikes on Syrian targets, hitting residential areas is unusual and indicates an assassination attempt. This incident follows a similar attack on January 20, during which five IRGC officers were killed in a missile strike on the Western Mazzeh Villas neighbourhood in Damascus.--IANSint/khz

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