Seven Civilians Killed in Israeli Airstrike on Damascus Apartment

The Syrian Defense Ministry has reported that Israel carried out an attack on an apartment building in the residential neighborhood of Mazzeh in the capital city of Damascus. At least seven civilians, including women and a child, were killed in the attack.  They warn the death toll is preliminary and they are still looking for survivors in the rubble.

Details of the incident are still emerging, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that the building was believed to be in use by Hezbollah and Iranian Revolutionary Guards. Two of the dead in the attack were described as foreigners, though as yet to be identified.

In addition to the people killed in the attack, at least 11 others were reported wounded in the attack. The bottom three floors of the building have been described as totally destroyed, and more than 20 cars parked in the area near the building have been damaged.

Mezzah is a relatively upscale suburb west of Damascus, and is where many of the nation’s embassies are located. Since Israel began its most recent escalation of attacks against Syria in recent weeks, they have hit this neighborhood multiple times.

Israel has been engaged in a war on the Gaza Strip for over a year, and the war has expanded to include a ground invasion of Lebanon in recent weeks, along with escalating air wars against Syria and Yemen. Though there have been international efforts to broker some general ceasefires, there seems to be little momentum in that direction, and the conflict is just increasing as time goes on.

Israel has been attacking Syria on and off for many years, hitting targets in Damascus and elsewhere throughout the Syrian Civil War, though they maintained official neutrality throughout that conflict. Though the strikes had come a few times a month, they’ve been attacking targets inside Syria nearly every day this week, reflecting growing regional tensions.