DAMASCUS, Syria: An Israeli airstrike in the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday killed 11 people, mostly civilians, according to a war monitor, as Israel continues to target Syrian military infrastructure after the ouster of former President Bashar al-Assad.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Israeli airstrike targeted a weapons depot near the industrial town of Adra, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from Damascus. The observatory said at least 11 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
Syria’s official SANA news agency reported Israeli strikes on Qusayr’s industrial zone and some residential neighbourhoods, saying they caused material damage.
Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV also reported the airstrike but put the death toll at six. The Israeli military did not comment on the airstrike Sunday.
Syrian opposition groups who ousted Assad in a lightning offensive in early December have demanded that Israel cease its airstrikes.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that “at least 11 people were killed in an explosion caused by an Israeli strike” at “a weapons depot in the Adra area.
Read also: At Least 176 Killed In South Korea Plane Crash
An Israeli military source said: “We are not aware of IDF (army) strikes in the area. The IDF did not strike in the area.”
Abdel Rahman said that the dead are “mostly civilians”, adding that since Assad’s ouster, some civilians in the country have headed to former military positions looking for “anything they can sell”, including metal.
Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian military facilities after Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham led an alliance of opposition groups toppled Assad on December 8.
The vast land border between Israel and Syria has increasingly come under attack by Israel since its war with Hezbollah erupted last month.
The main border crossing, known as Masnaa on the Lebanese side, was put out of service by an Israeli strike this month.
A second crossing that connects Lebanon to Qusayr was put out of service last week by another Israeli strike.
Israel accuses Hezbollah of bringing weapons in from Syria using the land crossings which have become a key escape route for thousands of people fleeing the war in Lebanon.
There are six official crossings between Lebanon and Syria, but several illegal routes also exist along the border.
