Russian embassy in Damascus hit by mortar shells

Homemade mortars are seen under a bridge as Syrian government troops patrol a newly captured neighborhood in the northwestern city of Aleppo, December 7, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Russia says its embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, has been hit by mortar shells twice.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that an inner yard of the embassy complex had been hit by a shell in the afternoon.

Another shell fell near the diplomatic mission, the statement added.

Moscow condemned the shelling, which it blamed on "extremists."

The foreign ministry said the incident amounted to a provocation aimed at derailing the settlement of peace in Syria.

The Russian diplomatic mission in war-torn Syria has so far come under several militant attacks.

Russia has been engaged in an anti-terror campaign in Syria since September 30, 2015, based on a request from the Damascus government. According to analysts, the campaign has largely been successful in helping Syrian government forces dislodge foreign-sponsored terrorists from many regions across the country.

The Russian ambassador to Turkey was assassinated in a gun attack in the Turkish capital city of Ankara on December 19. The assailant, a Turkish police officer, had cited Moscow's contribution to the liberation of the Syrian city of Aleppo from Daesh. He was reportedly killed by the security forces.

Since March 2011, Syria has been hit by militancy it blames on some Western states and their regional allies. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the UN have put the death toll from the conflict in Syria at more than 300,000 and 400,000, respectively. The UN has stopped its official casualty count in Syria, citing its inability to verify the figures it receives from various sources.