Israel on Wednesday has once again targeted Damascus – but which marks the first time Israel’s military has struck Syria since the Tuesday night major ballistic missile attack by Iran.

The fresh airstrike happened in broad daylight in a residential neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital, killing at least three civilians, according to state-run SANA. Another three were reported wounded.

Illustrative: a prior daytime Israeli attack on Damascus. Most recent attacks have happened at night.

Some unverified reports say that a multi-story residential building was hit. It is unclear what Israeli jets might have been targeting, but Israeli media often casts these operations as against ‘Iranian assets’.

Israeli jets often fire into Syria from over unguarded Lebanese airspace, also as Lebanon has no air force or anti-air missile systems to speak of. 

Such attacks have been growing in the last days and weeks in the context of the escalating war in Lebanon, despite the Syrian Army staying on the sidelines thus far.

Israel sees Damascus as a key enabler of the ‘pro-Iran/pro-Shia axis’ of Tehran-Baghdad-Beirut, given Syria has hosted Iranian and Hezbollah troops on its soil going back near the start of the Syrian proxy war of the past decade.

Tuesday had seen a major Israeli attack on the Mezzeh neighborhood of Damascus, resulting in the death a popular Syrian television anchor. State television had described in a statement—

…that it “mourns anchor Safaa Ahmad who was martyred in the Israeli aggression on the capital Damascus”.

The official SANA news agency earlier said “air defense systems are intercepting hostile targets for the third time tonight in the Damascus area”, using a phrase that usually refers to Israeli strikes.

Currently Israel is said to be planning a large-scale retaliation against Iran. There are growing fears this could spark all-out war in the region, which could draw in Syria.

JUST IN 🚨🇸🇾
Israel bombed a residential neighborhood in Syria’s capital, Damascus. pic.twitter.com/GURSXzROGk

— Kevork Almassian🇸🇾🇦🇲 (@KevorkAlmassian) October 2, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first words in the wake of the attack were “Iran made a big mistake tonight, and it will pay for it” and included the vow, “whoever attacks us — we will attack them.”

“The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies. They will understand. We will stand by the rule we established: whoever attacks us, we will attack him,” Netanyahu continued.

Initial videos from Damascus appear to show that the Israeli strike was a large one:

#Syria: at least 2 dead following Israeli airstrike against a building in Mazzeh district in #Damascus.
Looks like a heavy strike.
Still no visual of the building itself. pic.twitter.com/Dp6Sq0lTk8

— Qalaat Al Mudiq (@QalaatAlMudiq) October 2, 2024

In any bigger Israeli military operation against Iran, Israel’s military is likely to strike out at Syria, and particularly areas deemed to have a concentration of Iranian or Hezbollah assets.