IAF strikes PIJ headquarters embedded in Syria's Damascus

IAF fighter jets struck commander centers and terrorist infrastructure belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group in Syria's Damascus, the military confirmed on Thursday afternoon. 

Fifteen people were killed and 16 injured in Israeli attacks on a number of residential buildings in suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday, state news agency SANA reported, citing a Syrian military source.

One building was located in the Damascus suburb of Mazzeh and the other in Qudsaya, west of the capital.

Israeli army radio said the targets of the attack in Damascus were assets and the headquarters of the Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad.

An IDF spokesperson confirmed later on Thursday that IAF fighter jets struck military buildings and headquarters of the Islamic Jihad terror organization in Syria. The PIJ terror group was credited with assisting Hezbollah in its efforts to target the State of Israel under Iranian direction.

The military further accused the Syrian regime of protecting the terror group. 

Commanders in Lebanon's Hezbollah armed group and Iran's Revolutionary Guards based in Syria have been known to reside in Mazzeh, according to residents who fled after recent strikes that killed some key figures from the groups.

Mazzeh's high rise blocks have been used by the authorities in the past to house leaders of Palestinian factions including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Why would Israel strike Syria?

Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years but has ramped up such raids since last year's Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian group Hamas on Israeli territory that sparked the Gaza war.

Since Hamas's massacre of 1200 people in southern Israel, the Jewish state has faced attacks from numerous Iran-backed terror groups in the region; including Hezbollah, the Houthis, and militia groups in Iraq.