Israel claims strike on Hezbollah intelligence HQ in Syria

Israel's military said its air force struck the intelligence headquarters of Hezbollah's Syrian branch in a strike on Damascus on Monday, an attack a war monitor said killed two people.

It was a rare acknowledgment by Israeli authorities of an attack against Syria.

The military has intensified its strikes on targets in Syria since launching its war against Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon more than a month ago.

Warplanes "conducted an aerial operation and struck Hezbollah terror targets belonging to Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in Syria", the military said in a statement.

The Syria branch "includes an independent intelligence gathering, coordination, and assessment network", the military said, adding that the attack aimed to degrade Hezbollah's intelligence capabilities.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said Israeli strikes killed two Hezbollah members near the Sayyeda Zeinab area south of Damascus, home to a Shiite sanctuary guarded by pro-Iran groups.

The strikes hit a house "used by members of Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard" at a farm, the Observatory said.

Syria's foreign ministry condemned the attack, saying it targeted "civilian areas" south of Damascus and caused significant material damage.

It did not refer to casualties.

Syrian state media said the strike occurred at approximately 5:18 pm (14:15 GMT) and came "from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights".

Mehdi Mahfouz, a 34-year-old resident of the area, said he "heard three successive explosions, one of which was very strong".

"Then I saw a large black cloud of smoke rising," Mahfouz added.

The blasts were heard in the neighboring Jaramana suburb of Damascus, an AFP photographer said, as ambulances headed to the area.

Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes there, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters including from Hezbollah.