In the wee hours of Sunday, a fresh round of Israeli missile strikes targeted a number of residential buildings in the Syrian capital of Damascus and its environs, claiming the lives of at least five innocent people, among them a Syrian cardiologist, a pharmacist, and an engineer.
Social media reports circulated the news later in the day, saying pharmacist Lilian Ouda, cardiologist Asif Mahmoud, and engineer Dean Sharaf Amjad Ahmed Ali were killed in the Israeli aggression.
The Syrian air defenses reportedly intercepted most of the missiles, with al-Mayadeen news agency saying that the Israeli strike targeted also areas in Damascus countryside, including Tal al-Masih near the city of Shahba, north of al-Suwayda in southwestern Syria.
Three Syrians, a cardiologist, an engineering officer, and a pharmacist, were killed by recent Israeli airstrikes in Damascus. pic.twitter.com/WKblarTZSB
— Majd Fahd 🇸🇾 (@Syria_Protector) February 19, 2023
Syria’s Health Ministry said five people were killed in the strike, including one soldier, while fifteen others were wounded, some of whom were in critical condition.
The Israeli attack came some 12 days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Syria, which is already shattered by more than a decade of war and draconian US sanctions, leaving more than 5,800 people dead and a lot more injured.
The Israeli assault also took place just a day after Syrian state media outlets said as many as 53 people had been killed in an ambush carried out by the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group near a central Syrian city.
Fresh Israeli missile strike on Damascus kills a Syrian cardiologist, a pharmacist, and an engineer. pic.twitter.com/SQp75zya5O
— Press TV (@PressTV) February 19, 2023
‘West wants Syrians dead’
Vanessa Beeley, a British independent photojournalist, who is also an expert, activist and blogger working on the Middle East, said in an article that “the Zionist aggression is part of a concerted effort to finish off Syria.”
Stressing that the Israeli attack was not an isolated incident, Beeley said the earthquake is being exploited by the “Globalist cabal” to step up the war effort against the Syrian government, military and allies that have repelled one of the most concerted regime change efforts in modern history that began in 2011.
“Israel bombs multiple sites in Syria killing civilians in central Damascus with a missile strike, disabling an early warning radar system during the attack,” the photojournalist said.
“The West wants Syrians dead – the Syrians who have fought for 11 years and defended themselves against one of the most barbaric hybrid wars the collective West has ever waged,” she said. “Instead of coming to their aid, the West will exploit this human tragedy to advance their geopolitical agenda in the region and to expand the war with Russia to more than one continent.”
Later on Sunday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the Israeli air strike on Damascus, calling for “urgent international action” to stop the Israeli regime’s aggression.
“Syria expects the United Nations Secretariat and Security Council to condemn Israeli aggression and crimes, take the necessary measures to deter them, hold them [Israelis] accountable, punish their perpetrators and ensure they do not recur,” the ministry said in a statement.
Israel frequently carries out missile attacks on targets in Syria, mostly using the airspace of Lebanon or the occupied territories.
Syria has repeatedly complained to the UN over Israeli assaults, urging the Security Council to take action against Tel Aviv’s crimes. The calls have, however, fallen on deaf ears.
In early November 2022, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad emphasized that his country will definitely give a crushing response to such acts of aggression at some point in the future.