Israeli warplanes targeted a residential building at Mezzah neighborhood in Syria’s capital Damascus, on Tuesday, October 8, killing at least 7 civilians, including women and children, and injuring several others. The aggression also caused significant material damages to properties, and the death toll is considered preliminary as rescue teams are still searching for people trapped under the rubble, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency SANA.
Some media sources claimed that Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi was inside the targeted building, which is located near the Iranian Embassy in Damascus. However, the embassy confirmed that no Iranian citizens were among the casualties in Mazzeh. Other media outlets claimed that the airstrikes were launched in an attempt to assassinate a high ranking Hezbollah official involved in weapons smuggling.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the attack in a statement describing it as “a new violation of international law and evidence of Israel’s persistence in expanding the scale of its brutal aggression against countries and peoples of the region”. The ministry also called for “immediate measures to deter Israel and force it to stop its criminal approach based on spreading death, destruction and chaos in the region, and its attempts to drag the area into a confrontation that will have disastrous consequences.”
Tuesday’s aerial aggression on Mazzeh was preceded by two previous air attacks on the neighborhood on October 1 and October 2, which had killed nine people and injured several others. Israeli aggressions on Syria have recently intensified parallelly with continuous airstrikes on Gaza and Lebanon. On Wednesday, October 9, Israeli fighter jets launched airstrikes on a school housing displaced people in the town of Jabalia in the northern Gaza strip, killing three civilians and injuring several others. Israel also carried out multiple airstrikes on different parts of Lebanon including south Lebanon, Beqaa and the southern suburb (Dahiyeh) in the Lebanese capital Beirut, killing and injuring a number of civilians.
