Civilians Killed in Suspected Israeli Airstrike on Damascus, Syria Condemns Attack
Syria’s foreign ministry has strongly denounced an alleged Israeli airstrike that struck a residential building in Damascus, resulting in the deaths of seven civilians, including women and children. The strike, which occurred Tuesday evening in the Mezzeh district—home to diplomatic sites like the Iranian embassy—left severe damage in its wake.
While Israel’s military has not made any statements regarding the incident, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported that 13 people were killed, among them nine civilians and two members of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group closely aligned with Iran and Syria’s government. According to the UK-based monitoring group, the target was an apartment frequently visited by leaders of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance.”
Syria’s state news outlet, Sana, quoted military officials who claimed that Israeli forces launched three missiles at the building from the occupied Golan Heights. Images from the scene show widespread destruction to multiple floors of the apartment complex.
Among the survivors was 61-year-old electrician Adel Habib, who described the moment of the explosion. “I was heading home when everything went dark—communications and power were cut off. I couldn’t reach my family,” Habib told AFP news agency. “Those five minutes felt like a lifetime until I heard the voices of my wife, children, and grandchildren.”
The Syrian Observatory confirmed that the civilian casualties included a Yemeni doctor, his wife, and their three children, along with a woman and her child, a female doctor, and one other man. Iran’s embassy reported no Iranian citizens were among the victims.
In a separate development on Wednesday, another Israeli strike near Quneitra claimed the life of a Syrian police officer, according to Syrian state media. Later that evening, the Israeli military confirmed that it had targeted Adham Jahout, a Hezbollah operative in the “Golan Terrorist Network.” Israel accused Jahout of coordinating intelligence between Hezbollah and Syrian government sources for attacks on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights.
Just last week, an Israeli airstrike in the same Mezzeh district reportedly killed Hassan Jaafar Qassir, the son-in-law of the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Israel has conducted hundreds of airstrikes in Syria in recent years, aiming at Iranian assets and its allied militias like Hezbollah. These strikes have escalated since the onset of the Gaza conflict last October, following cross-border assaults on northern Israel by Hezbollah and other groups from Lebanon and Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that since January, Israeli forces have launched 104 air and artillery strikes in Syria, resulting in at least 296 fatalities and damaging or destroying nearly 190 sites, including arms depots and militia strongholds. Meanwhile, Israel has ramped up its military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, targeting the group’s infrastructure with air raids and launching ground offensives in southern Lebanon over the past few weeks.
