Two civilians, including a woman, were killed and at least one child was injured in alleged Israeli airstrikes on Beit Sabir, Damascus governorate, around 1:30 AM on November 20th, 2019, according to local sources.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported “the death of a Syrian civilian and his wife after they were pulled from under the rubble of their house in Beit Sabir village in Sasa area, after the fall of a missile on their house due to Israeli shelling.”
The mayor of the village, Muhammad Al Safadi, told the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) that Ayoub Al Safadi and his wife Nadia Al Safadi were killed when a missile destroyed the two-storey building they resided in. Their 14-year-old son Ahmad Al Safadi was injured, but in good condition after receiving treatment in Abaza hospital. Beat Tema reported that the father of the family worked as a tailor.
Ahmad told SANA: “We were sleeping and heard strong voices, and within less than a minute the house above us was destroyed. I was transferred to the hospital in a state of loss of consciousness.”
Another son of the victims, Muhammad Al Safadi, is a soldier in the Syrian Arab Army and stated: “I was in my place of service when I received a call after two o’clock at night to know that my father was martyred and my younger brother was taken to the hospital.”
According to some sources, including @kholoudahassan, there were two sons pulled from underneath the rubble. According to Zaman Al Wasl, the incident occured at 1:30 AM.
Arab48 reported several wounded civilians, writing: “A medical source at the Qatana National Hospital confirmed that a man and a woman were killed, while a number of others were injured as a result of the raids on the town of Beit Saber, in Saasa, southwest of Damascus.” Other sources also reported several injured but did not specify the number.
According to SANA, Damascus countryside governor Alaa Ibrahim stated that “the rescue teams will remove the debris in Sasa area where a house was damaged, and three survivors were pulled from under the rubble, adding that the rest of the family’s members whose house was targeted by the Israeli brutal aggression are being rescued.” The governor also added that the governorate will provide assistance to those who were affected by the alleged Israeli strikes, and will rebuild the damaged homes.
Zaman Al Wasl wrote that “the recent Israeli raids came hours after Tel Aviv announced that it had been struck by a barrage of missiles fired from Syrian territory, claiming that it had intercepted all these missiles, which failed to reach their targets.”
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.”
The incident occured at approximately 1:30 am local time.