The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

SOHR: Five pro-Iranian fighters killed in Israeli strike

Five pro-Iranian fighters were killed in an Israeli missile strike Saturday against targets on the outskirts of Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

In the Syrian capital, the official SANA news agency reported that two Syrian soldiers were wounded when a “surface-to-surface missile strike” was launched, blaming Israel, a neighbor of war-torn Syria, for the attack.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the affected area is home to Lebanese Hezbollah weapons and ammunition depots and other paramilitary groups close to Iran, as well as Bashar al-Assad regime army positions.

Israel’s sworn enemies, Hezbollah and Iran, are militarily backing President Assad’s forces.

The strike “destroyed a shipment of weapons and ammunition belonging to Hezbollah and the Iranians,” according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based non-governmental organization based on a vast network of sources in the war-torn country. Five pro-Iranian paramilitary fighters were killed and several others were injured, according to the same source.

The NGO information has not been confirmed by an independent source.

Correspondents of the French Agency heard a series of explosions yesterday at noon. Israel’s strikes on positions in Syria in broad daylight and with surface-to-surface missiles are rare.

Since the outbreak of war in Syria in 2011, Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes, almost all by air, against positions of Syrian government forces and their allies, Iranian and pro-Iranian groups, particularly the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

The Israeli military rarely acknowledges that it is conducting operations in Syria; however, it confirmed this year that it had hit at least 50 targets in the war-torn country last year. Israel has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran, its sworn enemy, to build a bridge over Syrian territory.

On October 14, an Israeli air strike in Syria killed nine soldiers and paramilitaries.

 

 

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