(16 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria – 16 July 2025
1. Pan to Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters being hit by Israeli airstrike, second explosion, camera operator running
2. Wide of people running away
3. Various of people taking cover
4. Various of emergency services arriving
5. Various of smoke rising from Defense Ministry
6. Close of damaged flag flying
STORYLINE:
The Israeli military launched airstrikes in the heart of Damascus on Wednesday, hitting the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters as clashes in the southern Syrian city of Sweida continued to flare.
Israel’s attack came hours after a drone strike on the same building.
Syrian state media reported at least 13 people wounded.
Another strike hit near the presidential palace in the hills outside of Damascus.
As clashes have raged for days in the southern Syrian city of Sweida between government forces and Druze armed groups, Israel has launched dozens of strikes targeting government troops and convoys, which it says are in support of the religious minority group, and has vowed to escalate its involvement.
The escalating violence appears to be the most serious threat yet to the ability of Syria’s new rulers to consolidate control of the country after a rebel offensive led by Islamist insurgent groups ousted longtime despotic leader, Bashar Assad, in December, bringing an end to a nearly 14-year civil war.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said after the airstrike in a post on X that the “painful blows have begun.”
An Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations said the army was preparing for a “multitude of scenarios" and that a brigade, normally comprising thousands of soldiers, was being pulled out of Gaza and sent to the Golan Heights.
AP video shot by Abd al-Rahman Shaheen
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