7 killed in airstrikes on Syrian capital

BEIRUT — Airstrikes in the Syrian capital, Damascus, left at least seven people dead Monday as activists reported a third straight day of escalations by pro-government forces against opposition-held areas inside and around the capital.

Jets believed to belong to the Russian or Syrian air forces pounded the Barzeh and Qaboun neighborhoods in the northeast corner of the capital, leveling several buildings and wounding at least 12 people, the activist-run Barzeh Media Center and Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The side-by-side Barzeh, Qaboun, and Tishreen neighborhoods form one of the last two footholds of the Syrian opposition inside the Damascus city limits.

The two neighborhoods connect to a vast, opposition-held district in the suburbs of the capital through a network of smuggling tunnels, according to Syria researcher Aron Lund, in a report for the U.S.-based Century Foundation policy institute.