Up to two children and a woman were injured in alleged Israeli airstrikes on Qudsaya suburb in Damascus on November 20th, 2019, according to local sources.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, “a young woman was injured by shrapnel due to the Israeli shelling in Qudsaya suburb”. Reportedly, explosions were heard in the capital Damascus and its vicinity at 1:30 AM. Sources told the SOHR that “the explosions were caused by the regime’s air defenses while trying to intercept Israeli missiles that targeted positions of the regime and Iranian militias.”

Qasioun News wrote that “shrapnel from one of the missiles also hit a residential building in the Qudsaya suburb, west of Damascus, wounding a girl and causing extensive damage to the building.” According to Manal News, the girl was taken to Al Mouwasat Hospital for treatment.

The regime-controlled Syrian Arab News Agency reportedly spoke to residents of the targeted building. Iyad Al Mousawi, a resident of the building, stated: “At about 1:30 AM we felt a big shaking of the building and the sound of a strong explosion, and immediately I went to my children’s room. They were sleeping to find the flames of fire and thick smoke filling the place as a result of the shrapnel of a missile. I took them out and my wife, as one of them was injured.”

The SANA story indicated that there were two injured children, writing that “Mrs. Ahlam, the mother of the girl, who was injured in the other apartment within the damaged building, said: ‘After the smoke and dust disappeared, I saw my 17-year-old daughter crying out while she was soaked in her blood so that her father would take her to the Mouwasat Hospital in Damascus, where she is currently receiving treatment.'” Other sources only reported one injured girl.

Step News Agency reported Israeli strikes on military targets in Damascus, writing that their correspondent “confirmed that the Syrian regime’s positions were set ablaze in the vicinity of Mazzeh airport in Damascus. Ambulances and fire engines were heard there after the raids.” Local sources also reported that the Israeli raids around 1:30am also killed a family in Beit Sabir village (see event ISSY005).

Times of Israel reported that at least 23 fighters were killed in the Israeli strikes, 16 of them likely Iranians. France 24, quoting Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, put the number of fighters killed at 11, including seven foreign fighters. Neither source identified which location that fighters were killed in.

One of the casualties is believed to be the Basij fighter of the Revolutionary Guards, Ismail Ghulami-Yarahmadi, who was killed on November 20 in Syria, according to a tweet from Raz Zimmt, a professor at Tel Aviv University. A soldier in the Syrian regime army, Jaafar nour al-Deen, was also killed in the Israeli strikes but for both cases, it is unclear in which location they were killed.

Times of Israeli also pointed out that “video footage from Syria appeared to show a Syrian air defense missile crashing to the ground in a heavily populated area shortly after launching, which may account for some of the casualties” but provided no other specific information.

The IDF released a statement acknowledging the strikes they carried out on Syria, writing “#BREAKING: We just carried out wide-scale strikes of Iranian Quds Force & Syrian Armed Forces targets in Syria in response to the rockets fired at Israel by an Iranian force in Syria last night.” In their Hebrew language report, the IDF specifically refers to being carried out “in the Damascus area in the south and west and a small part also on the front.”