Airwars assessment
On Saturday, January 20th, 2024, at approximately 10:20 AM, at least one and up to five civilians were killed and a number of other civilians were injured in a series of airstrikes from the direction of the Syrian Golan allegedly carried out by the Israeli military in the Al Mazza [Mezzeh, Al-Mazzeh] neighborhood in the center of Damascus, the capital of Syria.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a civilian worker of Syrian nationality died as a result of the wounds he sustained in this attack, as well as four Syrians contracted by Iranian militias – it is unclear based on this description whether they would be classified as civilians or militants, and therefore have been counted as contested.The total number of the killed, according to SOHR, was 13, among them five Iranians, including three commanders in the Revolutionary Guard, a Lebanese and an Iraqi national.
Other sources, including SANA and Twitter/X user @SAMSyria0, referring to the Syrian Ministry of Defense, reported on the death and injury of “a number of civilians”. Suwayda News Network reported five injured people, however, it was not possible to infer from the sources gathered whether those were civilians or military personnel.
Sources reported the names of six men killed – Abdul Karim Shams, Hossam Al-Khalifa, Aqeel Behzadian, Samir Abbas Haider Ahmed, Muhammad Nour Hamad, and Muhammad Ali Al-Ashqar as reported by Twitter/X user @SAMSyria0. According to this user, they belonged to “the auxiliary forces of the Syrian Arab Army in the recent Israeli aggression on Damascus”. Therefore, Airwars has counted them as belligerents.
Four senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard advisors – Hojatollah Amidar, Ali Aghazadeh, Hossein Mohammadi, and Saeed Karimi, were also killed in the strike, according to the Iranian Mehr and Tashim agencies. Also, the alleged Israeli attack assassinated a high-rank military, the Iranian Quds Force intelligence commander in Syria Youssef Omid Zadeh known as Haji Sadiq. Twitter/X user Maryam Mohammed ZRIRA (@RaMaryame) shared an image of the killed commander. According to Reuters, the head of the information unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Syria was also among the killed.
The reported attack caused the complete destruction of a residential building, consisting of four inhabited floors, and damage to neighboring buildings. Syrian state-run SANA news added five pictures portraying the incident; one of the pictures showed an urban site filled with debris and smoke emerging from its center. The smoke seemed to be coming from a flattened building, with the roof now located at ground level. A car covered with white dust was shown next to the building. Another picture showed a firefighter truck on a sidewalk, seemingly being used. Next to it, one could see a destroyed car with debris on top of it. In the background, one could see a crowd of men and a yellow crane. Another picture zoomed in on the destroyed gray car covered in dust and debris. Another picture showed a side of a residential building with all of the windows facing the road damaged and/or shattered. The last picture showed a building completely destroyed with men both with and without uniforms standing on its ruins. A group of men wearing neon orange vests were working outside of the frame at the bottom of the building. The crane’s hook was visible in the middle of the picture.
Twitter/X user @s_alaraki shared at 8:10 AM on the platform a video showing a big column of white smoke, seemingly coming after an explosion, emerging from a residential area. The user linked the video to the attack.
Facebook user Nada Ali Arab shared on the social media platform pictures relating to the alleged event. One of the pictures showed a car in flames on the edge of an asphalted road, with tree branches on it. Another picture showed an urban site filled with debris and smoke emerging from its center; a crowd was standing on the site. Other pictures showed seemingly state officials and firefighters assessing the extent of the damage.
Where the sources identified the belligerent, all the sources linked the attack to the Israeli military. According to Twitter/X user @RaMaryame, three Israeli warplanes reportedly fired two missiles.
The incident occured at approximately 10:20 am local time.
Summary
Sources (21) [ collapse]
Media
from sources (37) [ collapse]
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Source: SANA news -
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Source: SANA news -
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Source: SANA news -
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Source: SANA news -
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Source: SANA news -
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Source: SANA news -
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Source: SANA news -
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Source: SANA news -
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Source: SANA news -
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Source: SANA news -
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Source: @RaMaryame -
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Source: @Mrmara2020 -
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Source: @EekadFacts -
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Source: @SAMSyria0 -
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Source: Syrian Shiites -
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Source: Waseem alkateb -
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Source: Nada Ali Arab -
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Source: Nada Ali Arab -
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Source: Nada Ali Arab -
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Source: Nada Ali Arab -
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Source: Nada Ali Arab -
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Source: Nada Ali Arab -
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Source: Moutaz AQ -
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Source: Moutaz AQ -
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Source: Moutaz AQ -
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Source: Moutaz AQ -
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Source: Moutaz AQ -
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Source: Syrian Shiites -
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Source: Syrian Shiites -
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Source: Syrian Shiites -
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Source: Syrian Shiites -
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