aftermath of a strike attributed to Israel in Damascus
The Iranian news agency said on Saturday that the head of the Revolutionary Guard's Quds force's intelligence chief and his deputy were among the fatalities in an Israeli strike on Damascus earlier in the day. Syrian state media on Saturday said a four story residential building in the Mazzeh neighborhood of Damascus came under an Israeli attack, killing at least three people.
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Earlier media reports identify Akram al-Ajouri senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as one of the casualties but a spokesman for the group told Reuters that no members of PIJ were wounded in the strike.
According to the UK based Syrian opposition group The Observatory for Human Rights, senior officials from the IRGC and members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad had been residing in the building that was attacked.
On Thursday, a report in Saudi Arabian media claimed Iran and Syria had agreed to end the transfer of Iranian weapons for Hezbollah via the Syrian airports in Damascus and Aleppo in order to stop Israeli strikes
Early on Saturday, sounds of explosions were reported in Damascus and a cloud of smoke was seen rising from several sights around the city.