Israeli strike hits residential building in Damascus: Syrian state media

Deaths reported as attack targets the Mazzeh neighbourhood where several diplomatic missions are located.

Syrian state media says a suspected Israeli strike has hit a residential building in Damascus, with initial reports suggesting it killed several people.

The attack took place in the Mazzeh neighbourhood in the west of the Syrian capital on Saturday, it added. The neighbourhood is home to several diplomatic missions, including the Lebanese and Iranian embassies.

A well-informed source told Al Jazeera the target was an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence unit, adding that a senior IRGC intelligence official in Syria and his assistants were in the building.

The attack killed five people in a building where “Iran-aligned leaders” were meeting, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based organisation that relies on a network of sources on the ground.

“An Israeli missile strike targeted a four-storey building, killing five people … and destroying the whole building where Iran-aligned leaders were meeting,” said the group.