Israeli Air Strikes Kill 42 In North Syria

Beirut, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Mar, 2024) A war monitor said Israeli air strikes Friday on Syria's north killed 36 soldiers and six fighters, the latest deadly raid on the forces in the country since the Israel-Gaza war began.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria since civil war there broke out in 2011, targeting army positions and fighter groups.

The strikes have increased since Israel's war with fighter group began on October 7, and Friday's was the second such attack in 24 hours.

"Israeli strikes" targeted "a depot belonging to Lebanon's 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 group" and "36 soldiers", the highest Syrian army toll in Israeli strikes since the Israel-Gaza war began.

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

Contacted by AFP from Jerusalem, the Israeli military said it would "not comment on reports in the foreign media". The Observatory also reported strikes targeting "defence factories" controlled by fighter groups elsewhere 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 attacks "a blatant and desperate attempt to continue and expand the crisis in the region".

The attack came just hours after 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, south of the capital, was targeted.

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

The Israel-Gaza war began with the Gaza-based group unprecedented attacks that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, according to an AFP 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 Palestine territory health ministry there.

Israel has exchanged near-daily cross-border fire with fighter group since the Gaza war began, sparking fears of a major regional conflagration.

A military security source said an Israeli strike on Friday on a car in south Lebanon killed an official, while the group claimed attacks on an Israeli position.

In Lebanon, cross-border fire since October has killed at least 347 people, mostly fighters, but also including at least 68 civilians, according to an AFP tally.

The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and in northern Israel, where the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed.

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