“Seven elements, most of them non-Syrians, were injured in an Israeli airstrike on a border crossing on the Syrian-Lebanese border in Rif Dimashq from the Syrian side,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.
The strike targeted a border crossing that is experiencing heavy traffic, with tens of thousands of Lebanese citizens making their way to Syria to flee simmering tensions between Israel and Lebanon.
On Friday, an Israeli airstrike on southern Beirut killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, significantly inflaming tensions between Israel and neighboring Lebanon and Syria – two countries where Iran’s “axis of resistance” has considerable sway.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria throughout its over a decade-long civil war, often claiming to target pro-Iran militias, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah group which supports the Syrian army.
Israel rarely confirms strikes attributed to it in Syria but has repeatedly warned that it would not tolerate its arch-rival Iran gaining a foothold there.
The strikes have increased since October 7, when Palestinian Hamas militants launched an unprecedented, large-scale attack on Israeli territory that prompted significant retaliation.
Israel also frequently targets Hezbollah supply routes through the Syria-Lebanon border.
On Sunday, unidentified strikes in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province injured at least 17 pro-Iran militants, the Observatory said.
Israel has carried out 88 strikes on Syrian territory since the beginning of the year, killing 221 combatants and injuring 164 more, according to data from the Observatory.
