An Israeli strike on a residential building in the Sayeda Zainab district south of the Syrian capital Damascus killed seven civilians on Sunday, the Syrian defence ministry said, in the second such attack in less than a week.
The fatalities included women and children, with 20 people also injured, the ministry said in a statement.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, which said last week that its air force had struck intelligence assets of the Iranian-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in the same area.
Sayeda Zainab, a stronghold of Hezbollah and the site of a major Shia shrine, has been the target in previous strikes. The heavily garrisoned area near the shrine is also a well known stronghold of Hezbollah, which is one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chief allies.
Israel has ramped up strikes in Syria since the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel in 2023 and particularly since the escalation of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict.
Syrian and Western intelligence sources say Israeli attacks in Syria have killed scores of Hezbollah and pro-Iranian militia fighters based around the eastern outskirts of Damascus and to the south of the city. However, Israel's strikes continued to kill or injure civilians alongside the group members.
France, Spain, Bahrain, and India have condemned the Iranian attack that targeted Qatar's Ras Laffan Industrial City during separate phone calls with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles after 20 days of US-Israeli air attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a news conference on Thursday.
The US objectives in its war against Iran have not changed since strikes started on February 28, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday, and he accused the media of stirring up concerns that the country risked being locked in an open-ended conflict with shifting priorities.
US President Donald Trump said an angry Israel "violently lashed out" and attacked Iran's major gas field, a significant escalation in the US-Israeli war, but ruled out further such attacks by Israel unless Iran retaliated further.
US President Donald Trump greeted Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warmly at the White House on Thursday and said he believed Japan was "really stepping up to the plate" on Iran.
Broadcasting every weekday, Georgia Tolley goes beyond the headlines to speak to government ministers, decision makers, analysts and local experts to find out how the news will impact those of us living in the UAE.
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