Reports indicate that the Israeli military carried out an airstrike on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on a building that was once the residence of Ziad Nakhla, the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization.
Urgent: Was Ziad Nakhla assassinated?
An IDF spokesman confirmed on Thursday, March 13, that it had struck what it described as an “Islamic Jihad command center.” The IDF statement said that the center was used to direct “terrorist operations” against Israel.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, is on the list of terrorist organizations by the United States and the European Union.
Muhammad al-Hajj Moussa, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad organization, published a message on Telegram, in which he described the location that was attacked as an empty building and denied the idea that it was used as a “command headquarters.”
Meanwhile, Ismail al-Sindawi, the group’s representative in Syria, who was present at the scene of the attack, told the Associated Press that the building had served for many years as the residence of Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ziad Nahala, but that it had been empty for a long time.
Previously, two Syrian security sources, in an interview with Reuters, called the target of the attack “a senior Palestinian figure,” without naming him.
It is still unclear whether the attack caused casualties. However, Ismail al-Sindawi, in response to reporters, emphasized that Ziad Nahala was not present in Syria and that no one else was in the building.