“At approximately 02:00 after midnight on June 3, 2014, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of southeastern Aleppo, targeting some sites in the vicinity of Aleppo. The aggression led to a number of martyrs and some material losses,” Syria’s state-owned SANA news agency said, citing a defense ministry statement.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said that 12 Iran-backed militiamen were killed in the strikes on the town of Hayyan in northern Aleppo.
“The targeting resulted in successive explosions in the copper factory in the area,” the monitor added.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria throughout its nearly 13-year civil war, often claiming to target pro-Iran militias such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah group that supports the Syrian army.
The strikes have increased since October 7, when Palestinian Hamas militants launched an unprecedented, large-scale attack on Israeli territory that prompted significant retaliation.
While it rarely comments on strikes attributed to it in Syria, Israel has repeatedly warned that it would not tolerate its arch-rival Iran gaining a foothold there.
On Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian coastal city of Baniyas killed a two-year-old girl and injured ten civilians.
