Death toll rises to 13 in Israeli missile strike on Damascus: monitor

DAMASCUS, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from Saturday's Israeli missile attack on Iran's targets in the Syrian capital of Damascus has risen to 13, according to a war monitor on Sunday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that among the 13 casualties were five Iranians, three of whom held commanding roles in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), four Syrians contracted with Iranian militias, two Lebanese individuals, one Iraqi national, and one Syrian civilian worker.

The Israeli missiles on Saturday struck the affluent Mazzeh Western Villas neighborhood, specifically targeting a residential building where a meeting of IRGC commanders was reportedly taking place.

On Saturday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the Israeli attack, and called on the international community to take immediate action to halt such "atrocities."