Syria monitor says one dead in Israel strike on Damascus building

Israel on Thursday struck a building in Damascus, Syrian state media reported, with a war monitor saying the raid on an area where Palestinian leaders are known to reside killed one person.

"Israeli aircraft targeted a building with two missiles in... Damascus, killing at least one person," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said, while state news agency SANA also reported the strike.

Two Syrian security sources told news agency Reuters the target was a Palestinian person.

One of the sources said the building hit was the headquarters for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organisation.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has since confirmed the Israeli air force conducted an air strike in Damascus, as he issued a statement on the attack.

"There will be no immunity for Islamic terrorism against Israel -- whether in Damascus or anywhere else. We will not allow Syria to become a threat to the state of Israel," Katz said in a statement.

The Israeli military also claimed the building was a command centre belonging to the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, used to direct 'terrorist activities' against Israel.

A nine-second video released by the military, purportedly showing the air strike, captured what appeared to be an explosion at the edge of a building followed by thick plumes of smoke.

The military said the command centre was used to plan and direct "terrorist activities" by Islamic Jihad against Israel.

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.

A source in the Islamic Jihad told news agency AFP that a building belonging to the group had been hit by Israeli jets, adding there were "martyrs and wounded" in the strike.

The New Arab could not independently verify the Israeli claims.

Hundreds of air strikes

Since the overthrow of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria and deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone on the strategic Golan Heights.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that southern Syria must be completely demilitarised, warning that his government would not accept the presence of the forces of the new government near its territory.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has also repeatedly warned that world leaders should be wary of the new leadership in Syria, warning that a "jihadist group" was now ruling the country.

Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the toppling of Assad, has its roots in the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda.

It is still listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and other governments.

HTS has sought to moderate its image in recent years.

After years of diplomatic isolation under Assad, diplomats from the West and Syria's neighbours have reached out to Syria's new rulers.

Saying they want to help the war-battered country rebuild, Canada and the European Union have eased sanctions that were imposed on Assad's government.

Even before Assad's fall, during Syria's civil war which broke out in 2011, Israel carried out hundreds of strikes in the neighbouring country, mainly on government forces and Iranian-linked targets.