An Israeli airstrike hit an apartment building in the Syrian Capital of Damascus on Thursday, killing at least one person, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz acknowledged the strike, claiming the apartment building was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad “command center.”
A PIJ source told AFP that a building belonging to the group was stuck by an Israeli airstrike and that there were “martys and wounded.”
Ismail Sindawi, PIJ’s representative in Syria, claimed that the building had been “closed for five years and nobody from the movement frequented it” and that Israel was just trying to send a message.
Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that three civilians were wounded in the attack, including one woman.
“There will be no immunity for Islamic terrorism against Israel — whether in Damascus or anywhere else. We will not allow Syria to become a threat to the state of Israel,” Katz said in a statement on the strike.
Also on Thursday, Katz visited the Syrian side of Mt Hermon and said Israel’s occupation of southern Syria would continue for an “unlimited time.” Israel invaded southern Syria following the regime change that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on December 8.
While Israel celebrated the regime change and took credit for helping put it in motion, Israel is now using the takeover of Syria by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an offshoot of al-Qaeda, as a reason to invade and occupy more of the country.
