Damascus

A photo released by the Syrian Arab News Agency shows destruction from what is said was bomb attack in the Al-Hama area of Damascus on Sunday, May 5. According to the Syrian government, Israel launched an attack on a research center in the Damascus suburbs early Sunday. Tensions in Syria first flared in March 2011 during the onset of the Arab Spring, eventually escalating into a civil war that still rages. This gallery contains the most compelling images taken since the start of the conflict.
Of course, the Damascus of the Bible is still recognizable today as the well-known capital city of Syria. Appropriately enough, it even has the famous distinction of being considered the world's oldest continuously inhabited city, inhabited from prehistoric times.
saiah 17:1-14  ESV / 12 helpful votes 
 An oracle (Prophecy) concerning Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city and will become a heap of ruins. The cities of Aroer are deserted; they will be for flocks, which will lie down, and none will make them afraid. The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, declares the Lord of hosts. And in that day the glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will grow lean. And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain and his arm harvests the ears, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim. ...

2 Thessalonians 1:8  ESV / 2 helpful votes 
 In flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

Chernobyl disaster is an example that a city can be destroyed in mins

The disaster released at least 100 times more radiation than the atom bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. 
 Much of the fallout was deposited close to Chernobyl, in parts of Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. More than 350,000 people resettled away from these areas, but about 5.5 million remain. 
 Contamination with caesium and strontium is of particular concern, as it will be present in the soil for many years. 
 After the accident traces of radioactive deposits were found in nearly every country in the northern hemisphere. 
 But wind direction and uneven rainfall left some areas more contaminated than their immediate neighbours. 
 Scandinavia was badly affected and there are still areas of the UK where farms face post-Chernobyl controls.

How Does a City Become A Ruinous Heap?
If you think about it, this prediction is perhaps without precedent in modern times. To be sure, there have been several modern cities that have been merely abandoned. A famous example of this is Pripyat, Ukraine. Probably that name does not ring a bell, but this is the city where the famous Chernobyl nuclear reactor leak happened. Due to the radioactive fallout, it was deserted as a ghost town. Decades later it is safe to visit for short periods—as witnessed by the visitor's pictures you can find posted on the Internet, including such sites as the city amusement park. 
However, for a modern city to end its run and become an uninhabited pile of ruins is something unprecedented. For example, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the targets of the first atomic bombs, continue as cities to this day, despite having been partially leveled from the atomic blast. The reasons for this are twofold. The first two atomic bombs (Fat Man and Little Boy) used on Japan were on the small side by today's standards. Secondly, the bombs were detonated high above the cities, in what is called an “air burst.” Air bursts produce greatly reduced fallout levels compared to ground strikes. This makes it feasible to rebuild and reinhabit the area, just as Japan did. 
Damascus' fate is different than either of these cities or perhaps any other. Its buildings and streets will not just be deserted, but they will be left as a “heap of ruins.” I am not aware of a case in modern times of that happening to a city. There are cities that have been wiped out by tsunamis or even volcanic explosions, but they have been rebuilt and not left as heaps of ruins. 
Perhaps Hiroshima and Nagasaki provide the cloest concept for how Damascus' complete destruction and abandonment is likely to happen. A nuclear bomb with a larger yield or a series of bombs with smaller yields could turn an entire city to a heap of ruins. This is quite feasible in Damascus' case since it is small, only approximately 40 square miles in area. If a ground burst attack is used instead of air bursts, the strong fallout would keep people from coming back to rebuild and reinhabit it.
WHAT IF ISREAL NUKE DAMASCUS HOW then could animals leave in a contaminated area
As we see below Wildlife is thriving despite continued contamination

 Isaiah 17:2
King James Version (KJV)
2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
Damascus, Syria
 (CNN) -- A series of massive explosions illuminated the dark sky over Damascus early Sunday, igniting renewed claims that Israel has launched attacks into the war-torn country.
Syria's government said the explosions were the second Israeli airstrike in three days. The latest target, officials said, was a military research facility outside the Syrian capital. A top Syrian official told CNN in an exclusive interview that the attack was a "declaration of war" by Israel.
Syrian authorities vowed to retaliate against Israel but did not specify what action they would take.
The Israeli military would not confirm or deny the Syrian claim that Israel fired rockets that hit the Jamraya research center in the Damascus suburbs.
Explosions rock Damascus 
Syrian official: Israel has declared war  
"We do not comment on these reports at all," an Israeli military representative said.
Did Israel conduct airstrike on Syria? 
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "grave concern" over the reports of Israeli airstrikes in Syria Sunday but stressed that the U.N. is not "in a position to independently verify what has occurred," his spokesman said.
Sunday's explosions mark the third time Israel has been accused of striking inside Syria this year.
The blasts rocked a large military area in the suburbs of Syria's capital, prompting terrified residents nearby to run for cover.
"Everything kept exploding over and over again," said Anna Deeb, whose family lives just over a mile away. "We could hear gunshots, we could hear people screaming. ... We didn't know what to do, and there was a problem with us breathing because the smoke was too much."
Syrian state-run TV claimed that the Israeli rocket attack on the research center aided rebels, who have been battling government forces in the region. And the government's Syrian Arab News Agency said mortar shells "fired by terrorists" damaged residential neighborhoods nearby. But state media reports did not provide details about what type of research occurs in the facility, or how much damage occurred there after Sunday's attack.
Even with details about the explosion unclear, tensions ran high in the volatile region Sunday amid word of the reported attack, which was condemned by some officials across the Middle East.
In an exclusive interview with CNN, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al Mekdad said the attack represented an alliance between Islamic terrorists and Israel.
"When they attack, this is a declaration of war. This is not something that is (new)," al Mekdad said. "We dealt with this on several occasions, and we retaliated the way we wanted, and the retaliation was always painful to Israel, and they will suffer again."
After an emergency meeting of Syria's Cabinet on Sunday, Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said on state television that the attack "opens the door wide open for all possibilities" but did not specify what those possibilities would be.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby condemned what he called Israeli strikes on Syrian territories and called for the United Nations Security Council to "move immediately in order to stop and prevent Israeli attacks on Syria." Foreign ministers in Egypt and Iran also condemned the reported Israeli attack.
Ban's spokesman said the U.N. secretary-general "calls on all sides to exercise maximum calm and restraint, and to act with a sense of responsibility to prevent an escalation of what is already a devastating and highly dangerous conflict."
Missile defense system a game changer, Israelis say
Amid the heightened tensions, Israel appeared to be stepping up defense efforts.
An Israeli Army official told CNN that two rocket interception batteries have been deployed to northern Israel.
And the Israeli Airport Authority said Sunday that it had closed northern airspace over the country to civil aviation flights.
Attack comes days after reports of another Israeli airstrike
Sunday's reported attack comes days after U.S. officials told CNN that Israel had conducted an airstrike against Syria.
Two U.S. officials told CNN on Friday that Israel apparently launched an airstrike into Syria on Thursday or Friday.
The Israeli military did not comment on the U.S. claim. But Israel has long said it would target any transfer of weapons to Hezbollah or other terrorist groups as well as any effort to smuggle Syrian weapons into Lebanon that could threaten Israel.
"We are watching everything when it comes to the movement of these types of weapons. We have the means to do that," a senior Israeli defense official told CNN's Sara Sidner on Sunday. The official is not authorized to speak to the media.
Shaul Mofaz, a lawmaker in Israel's Knesset, told Israeli Army Radio on Sunday that Israel isn't meddling with Syria's civil war. But Israel must protect itself from Lebanese militants, he said.
"For Israel, it is very important that the front group for Iran, which is in Lebanon, needs to be stopped," Mofaz said.
"Everything that goes into the hands of Hezbollah is not directly related to the rebels. Israel never interfered in the past or today in their actions. Nevertheless, I need to say that Hezbollah is deeply involved up to its neck in what is happening in Syria. Hezbollah helps the Iranians navigate against the rebels."
Hezbollah did not immediately comment after Sunday's claims.
Lebanon's National News Agency reported that Lebanese President Michel Suleiman condemned what he called "Israel's onslaught against Syria." Israel used Lebanese airspace to strike Syria, he said.