Israel Bombs Targets in Syria, and Keeps Up Strikes in Lebanon

Israeli fighter jets bombed sites in the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Thursday that the military said were affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, killing at least 15 people and wounding 16 others, including women and children, according to Syrian state media.

In Syria, the state news agency, SANA, said Israel struck the al-Mezzeh neighborhood in Damascus around 3:20 p.m. local time, damaging several buildings.

In a statement, the Israeli military said the attack had “inflicted significant damage” to a command center belonging to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a militia backed by Iran. The military blamed the Syrian government for allowing the militia to operate from its territory.

“We are conducting deep strikes and striking frequently in Syria and along the Syria-Lebanon border to prevent weapons transfers to Hezbollah,” Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military chief of staff, said on Tuesday.

The attack occurred as the Israeli military continued a days-long barrage of strikes along the area south of Beirut, the Lebanese capital, on Thursday, targeting Hezbollah, a militant group backed by Iran.

At least 12 civil defense workers were killed in an Israeli strike on a civil defense center in the northeastern city of Baalbek in Lebanon, according to Bachir Khodr, the regional governor. Rescue operations were underway, and the city’s civil defense chief, Bilal Raad, was among those missing, he said.