Seven people were killed and others injured in an Israeli bombardment targeting a residential building in the Mezzeh neighborhood of the capital, Damascus. This marks the third targeting of the neighborhood since the beginning of this month.
The official Syrian news agency (SANA) reported yesterday, Tuesday, October 8, that Israeli aircraft launched three missiles from the Golan Heights, hitting a residential and commercial building in the densely populated Mezzeh area in Damascus. This resulted in the deaths of seven civilians, including children and women, and injured 11 others as a preliminary casualty toll.
The bombardment caused significant material damage to private properties in the surrounding area, and rescue operations are ongoing to save those trapped under the rubble.
The local radio station Sham FM published images it said were from the targeted area near the 14-story buildings in Mezzeh, showing damage to three residential apartments stacked on top of each other in the building, along with several parked cars next to the targeted building.
The Russian news agency “Sputnik” suggested that there are likely a large number of casualties because the targeted area is densely populated with civilians.
Repeated targeting of Mezzeh
For years, Israel has been bombarding targets across various areas in Syria, including military points for the Syrian army and other sites or infrastructure belonging to Iran and its militias, usually not claiming these operations.
However, Israeli attacks have escalated in the past two weeks coinciding with increased Israeli tensions in Lebanon.
Today’s bombardment is the third to hit the Mezzeh neighborhood since the start of this month, following strikes on two targets in the neighborhood on October 1 and 2.
After each Israeli strike or bombardment on the Mezzeh area, one of the prominent expectations is that the target will be an Iranian officer or leader or a member of the Lebanese Hezbollah, due to repeated Iranian losses in this neighborhood, especially following the Al-Aqsa Flood operation.
The bombardment on October 2 hit a residential apartment in a building in the Western Mezzeh Villas, resulting in three deaths and three injuries, according to SANA.
The Syrian regime’s Ministry of Defense stated that an Israeli airstrike from the occupied Syrian Golan targeted the building in the Mezzeh neighborhood.
The first strike occurred on the 1st of the month, when Israeli aircraft targeted a site around the Western Mezzeh Villas, next to the French park in the Syrian capital Damascus, from the Golan, resulting in three deaths and nine injuries, including the journalist Safaa Ahmed, in addition to material damages.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced two days later the death of military advisor Majid Diwani due to wounds sustained from the Israeli bombardment in Damascus.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the death of Hassan Jafar Qassir, the son-in-law of Hassan Nasrallah, a member of Hezbollah, and an element working with Iranian militias holding a nationality other than Syrian, in the strike on October 2.
Nasrallah’s son-in-law, Hassan Jafar Qassir, is the brother of Mohammad Jafar Qassir, commander of Unit 4400 in Hezbollah, who also died two days ago in a bombing in the southern suburbs of Lebanon.