Two people were killed and several others wounded in a car bomb and shellfire in Syria’s capital Damascus on Wednesday, state television said.
“Two killed and 14 injured in terrorist attacks on Damascus Tower and Maysat Square,” it reported.
They struck at the tower in the central Marjeh Square district, and the car bomb went off in the northeast of the city.
Images of security forces gathered around a burnt-out skeleton of a car in Maysat Square were broadcast on state television.
The blast came as regime forces battle to flush out ISIS from the southern districts of the capital, including Yarmouk and the adjacent Hajar Al Aswad neighbourhood.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, says ISIS fighters have previously targeted the capital in recent weeks.
"ISIS in southern Damascus has fired rockets intermittently on the capital" since April 19 when pro-government forces ramped up their fight against the extremists, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
The Damascus regime set its sights on Yarmouk and nearby areas after retaking the former rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta east of the capital last month.
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Meanwhile, at least 15 people were killed in a suspected Israeli attack on Iranian military facilities in south of Damascus on Tuesday, the Observatory said.
“The number increased to at least 15, including at least eight Iranian, killed by the missile strikes,” it said on Wednesday.
The strikes hit an arms depot of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards in the Kiswa area late on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin and discuss military co-ordination amid the new strikes.
"The meetings between us are always important and this one is especially so," Mr Netanyahu said ahead of his departure. "In light of what is currently happening in Syria, it is necessary to ensure the continued co-ordination" between the two militaries. He made no mention of the overnight strikes.
Israeli officials have repeatedly said that they were concerned over Iran’s presence in Syria, where, like Moscow, Tehran backs President Bashar Al Assad.
Israel has in the past been accused of carrying out deadly strikes in Syria, with reports of Iranian forces killed but has not acknowledged those strikes. It has, however, admitted to carrying out dozens of raids in Syria to allegedly stop deliveries of arms to the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militia, which is also fighting alongside the Assad forces.
