Syria urges UN to deter Israeli attacks after deadly missile strike

Syria has urged the United Nations to take necessary measures to deter Israel's attacks and hold it accountable after a deadly Israeli missile attack on the Syrian capital Damascus.

"When Syria was trying to heal its wounds, bury its martyrs, and receive condolences, sympathy, and international humanitarian support in the face of the devastating earthquake, the Israelis launched an air aggression targeting civilian-populated neighbourhoods," the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

There has been no comment from the Israeli authorities on the attack, Xinhua news agency reported.

Five people, including a soldier, were killed and 15 others wounded by the Israeli missiles launched from the Golan Heights early Sunday, the Syrian army said, adding many of the wounded are in critical conditions.

Many residential buildings in Damascus and the city's countryside were damaged, it noted.

At least 15 people were killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor. Nine of the victims were Syrians, including two civilians, four soldiers, and three military officers. The identities of the other victims remain unknown, the Britain-based watchdog group said.

According to local media reports, the missiles hit the upscale neighbourhood of Kafar Sousah, the historic citadel of Damascus, and the al-Mazraa area.

The observatory said the target in Kafar Sousah was an Iranian school, adding that the Israeli missile attack also targeted positions of the Iranian militia and the Lebanese Hezbollah group in the Sayyida Zainab area, as well as a military site in the southern Syrian province of Sweida.

The Israeli attack comes as Syria is still coping with the devastating earthquakes that struck the north of the country on February 6. The tremors have killed and injured thousands of people in the war-torn country.

--IANS

int/khz/