No Pinoys hurt in Syria air strike —DFA

The Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday said no Filipinos were hurt in the air strike that occurred in Syria, according to a report by Sandra Aguinaldo on GMA News TV's Balitanghali.

The DFA nevertheless advised Filipinos to take extra caution and stay indoors.

Filipinos were told "to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary movement" after several locations in the Syrian capital were subjected to airstrikes that targeted Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Syrian air defenses.

Manila's last security warning for Filipinos in Syria was in April 2018. The remaining Filipinos in Syria are mostly spouses of Syrian nationals and household service workers.

There were 17,000 Filipinos in Syria when the civil war erupted in 2011. Syria has remained under crisis alert level 4  since then, but hundreds of Filipino opted to stay.

Alert level 4 calls for the mandatory evacuation and total deployment ban. It is the highest security warning given by the Philippines on countries that pose security risks to Filipino travelers and workers due to armed conflict or disaster.

Israeli fighter jets bombed Iranian Quds targets and defense batteries in Syria on Monday.

According to Reuters, witnesses said loud explosions were heard in Damascus for nearly an hour on Monday. — with Michaela del Callar/KG/RSJ, GMA News