Seven civilians, including women and children, were killed, and 20 others were wounded in an Israeli airstrike near the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday night, the country's Defense Ministry reports.

The ministry said in a statement that Israeli “enemy forces” launched an air strike from the occupied Golan Heights on a residential building in the Sayyida Zainab neighborhood in a rural area near Damascus, news.cn reported.

The attack also caused significant damage to private property, the agency added.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Monitoring Center earlier said the strike hit an apartment in a residential building housing Lebanese nationals and Hezbollah fighters.

Sayyida Zainab, south of the Syrian capital, is home to a prominent Shiite shrine. The area has been the target of Israeli attacks in the past.

Israel has carried out numerous airstrikes in Syria in recent years, allegedly targeting Iranian military installations and weapons shipments to Hezbollah.