Suburbs of the Syrian capital, where members of Lebanese Hezbollah, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and Palestinian factions are believed to be based, were targeted for the second consecutive day by Israeli airstrikes, according to Syrian media.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported that an Israeli strike today targeted the Mazzeh district in Damascus, which was also struck by deadly bombings yesterday. “An Israeli attack hit Mazzeh,” SANA stated, noting that the luxury district houses UN headquarters, embassies, and Syrian security institutions.

Leaders of Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, based in Syria, are known to reside in this district, according to residents who fled after recent attacks killed members of Hezbollah and the Guards. High-rise complexes in Mazzeh have previously been used by authorities to house leaders of Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

On Thursday, Israeli airstrikes also targeted this district, as well as Kunchaya in the suburbs of the Syrian capital.

On Thursday, at least 20 people, including Palestinians and pro-Iran fighters, were killed in Israeli airstrikes targeting apartment buildings in Mazzeh and Kunchaya in the suburbs of the Syrian capital, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

These attacks coincided with the visit to Damascus by senior Iranian official Ali Larijani, a close adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Larijani met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to discuss “regional developments and Israel’s escalation” against Palestinians and Lebanon, according to the Syrian presidency.

Israel has been conducting airstrikes against Iranian-linked targets in Syria for years but has intensified these attacks following the October 7, 2023, Hamas incursion into Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed yesterday’s strikes in Syria targeting “Islamic Jihad military bases,” a militant group active in Gaza.