An Israeli airstrike reportedly has killed up to 15 people in Kafr Sousa – a high-security area of the Syrian capital, Damascus. 

Part of the area is home to senior security officials, security branches and intelligence headquarters and Iranian installations.

The strike, earlier on Sunday morning, damaged several buildings in the densely populated district close to Omayyad square in the heart of the capital, where multi-storey security buildings are located within residential areas.

Syrian state media quoted Syria’s defence ministry saying that the strike killed, in a preliminary toll, five people, among them a soldier, and injured 15 civilians, some in critical condition. However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike, which hit close to an Iranian cultural centre, had killed 15 people, including civilians.