Read 2nd kings 16 verse 9 If I recollect correctly..The whole chapter might clear up some issues others are having....There are many misinterpretations from the original scriptures... The question you can ask yourself is whether they were done deliberately or because they just did not understand the Hebrew original concepts... Hebrew is poetic and not to be taken literally .. Forever might have been in the mind of the writer for example as a very very long time so to him it would be Quote forever... Obviusly cities in this area were constantly destroyed and rebuilt on the same site over and over again ..Damascus is no exception....