Israeli strikes kill 42 people in north Syria: Monitor

BEIRUT: A war monitor said Israeli air strikes on Friday on Syria’s north killed 36 soldiers and six Hizbollah fighters, the latest deadly raid on forces in the country since the Israel-hamas war began.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria since civil war there broke out in 2011, targeting army positions as well as fighters including Hizbollah.

The strikes have increased since Israel’s war with Hamas began on Oct.7, and Friday’s was the second such atack in 24 hours.

“Israeli strikes” targeted “a rockets depot belonging to Lebanon’s Hizbollah” close to Aleppo airport, said the Uk-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of sources inside Syria.

It reported “42 killed, including six from Lebanon’s Hizbollah group” and “36 soldiers,” the highest Syrian army toll in Israeli strikes since the Israel-hamas war began.

State news agency SANA, quoting a military source, reported that “at approximately 1:45 am, the Israeli enemy launched an air atack from the direction of Athriya, southeast of Aleppo,” adding that “civilians and military personnel” were killed and wounded.

Contacted by reporters from Jerusalem, the Israeli military said it would “not comment on reports in the foreign media.”

The Observatory also reported strikes targeting “defence factories” in Aleppo province.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said the strikes were a “violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and are a serious threat to regional and international peace and security.”

He called the atacks “a blatant and desperate atempt to continue and expand the crisis in the region.”

The atack came just hours ater a reported Israeli strike in the Damascus countryside.

Syrian state media said “two civilians” were killed in an “Israeli air attack that targeted a residential building” on Thursday, also reporting material damage.

The Observatory said the Sayyida Zeinab area, a stronghold of armed groups including Hizbollah south of the capital, was targeted.

Israeli raids in Syria also seek to cut off Hizbollah supply routes to neighbouring Lebanon.

The Israel-hamas war began with the Gazabased fighters unprecedented atacks that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on Israeli official figures. Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 32,623 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamasrun health ministry there.