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On Sunday night, the Israeli military conducted an airstrike near Damascus, Syria’s capital, reportedly targeting a villa owned by Maher al-Assad, the brother of President Bashar al-Assad.
According to a military source for the London-based publication Al-Quds Al-Arabi, a drone strike hit Maher al-Assad’s residence in the Yafour area, situated to the west of Damascus along the route to Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. The explosions from the attack were heard across the surrounding region, but there have been no confirmed reports of casualties or any updates on Maher al-Assad, who commands Syria’s influential 4th Division.
Throughout the ongoing Syrian conflict, there have been persistent rumors regarding Maher al-Assad’s death, including claims that he suffered severe injuries during a bombing at a regime intelligence meeting back in 2012.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the villa targeted in the recent airstrike is linked to Maher’s 4th Division, a heavily armored unit in the Syrian military believed to have ties to Tehran. The observatory also noted that commanders from Lebanon’s Hezbollah and members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard often visited the villa.
SOHR’s sources indicated that Maher had been warned that any transfers of weapons from his division to Hezbollah in Lebanon would be subject to Israeli strikes. They also confirmed that he was not present at the villa during the attack and had not sustained any injuries.
Israel has routinely conducted airstrikes in Syria throughout the lengthy conflict that has lasted over 13 years, although it rarely officially acknowledges these operations. Israel’s government has stated its commitment to preventing Iran from establishing a presence near its border with Syria, where numerous foreign-supported militias operate.
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