“Three members of Iran-backed militias were killed and ten others were injured in the attacks,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, adding that the attacks in Homs and Hama targeted positions of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, a key Damascus ally.
The strikes also targeted air-defense systems and fuel refineries in the provinces, according to the monitor, and members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were also present.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria throughout its 13-year civil war, often claiming to strike pro-Iran militias, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah group which supports the Syrian army.
While it rarely comments on strikes attributed to it in Syria, Israel has repeatedly warned that it would not tolerate its arch-rival Iran to gain 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 has carried out 60 strikes on Syrian territory since the beginning of the year, killing 181 combatants and injuring 113 others, according to SOHR data.
