Israeli strikes on Syria kill three pro-Iran fighters

A war monitor said Israeli air strikes on Syria targeting positions of the army and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah killed three Iran-backed fighters on Friday.

"Israeli strikes have so far killed three pro-Iranian fighters and wounded about 10 others," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Britain-based war monitor said the strikes targeted "makeshift petrol stations affiliated to Hezbollah in the Homs countryside, and struck weapons depots belonging to the group as well as two Syrian army sites in the Hama countryside."

The Syrian defense ministry said the attacks "wounded seven civilians."

"At approximately 7:35 pm (1635 GMT), the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of northern Lebanon, targeting a number of sites in the central region," it said.

Since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in the country, mainly targeting the army and its Iran-backed allies.

The raids intensified after Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel sparked war in Gaza, then eased after an April 1 strike blamed on Israel hit the Iranian consular building in Damascus killing two generals of the Revolutionary Guard.

Tensions have risen again since the killings of two senior Iran-backed militants last month, which sparked threats of reprisals from Tehran and its allies, who blamed Israel.

Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes in Syria, but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence.