The IDF said on Monday that it attacked a Hezbollah intelligence site near Damascus. The compound includes an independent intelligence gathering, coordination, and assessment network and was under the direct command of Hezbollah's Head of Intelligence, Hassan Ali al-Zaima who was assassinated in a strike on Beirut's Dahieh last September along with the designated leader of the terror group Hashem Safieddine.
According to the military in that same strike, chief of Hezbollah's intelligence branch in Syria Mahmoud Mohammed Shaheen was also killed.
Earlier Syrian state media reported an Israeli strike near the Sayyeda Zeinab area south of Damascus, home to an important Shiite sanctuary and guarded by pro-Iranian groups, including Hezbollah.
IDF strikes the Dahieh district in Beirut
"According to initial reports, an Israeli aggression targeted the area around Sayyeda Zeinab," the official SANA news agency said, without providing additional details. Three sites were targeted, Syrian radio said in a report.
Strike near Damascus attributed to Israel
News outlet affiliated with the opposition said sources close to the Assad regime reported that at least two members of Hezbollah were killed and five others injured in the attack on a farm belonging to Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
Sayeda Zeinab, a stronghold of the Iran-backed terror group and the site of a major Shi'ite shrine, has been targeted in previous strikes.
Syrian and Western intelligence sources say Israeli attacks in Syria have killed numerous Hezbollah and pro-Iranian militia fighters based around the eastern outskirts of Damascus and to the south of the city.
The sources say the neighborhood remains a target due to the presence of high-ranking militia leaders.
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