Israeli strike in Syria kills 2 Hezbollah-linked operatives

A war monitor said an Israeli strike Thursday in the Syrian-controlled Golan Heights killed two people working with Lebanon's Hezbollah, days after major raids elsewhere in the country.

Syria's official news agency SANA reported that "two citizens were martyred due to an Israeli drone attack that targeted a civilian vehicle with a missile" on the Damascus-Quneitra road, in Quneitra province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said those killed were an operative who "worked with Lebanon's Hezbollah and was responsible for recruiting Syrians in the area... and transporting weapons."

His "assistant" was also killed, added the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

A local security source told AFP that "two charred bodies were removed" from the targeted vehicle.

The Israeli army has yet to comment on the strike.

Israel seized much of the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed it in a move largely unrecognized by the international community.

Thursday's strike came days after raids blamed on Israel killed 18 people in the central province of Hama, according to Syrian authorities.

The Observatory said those strikes killed 27 people, including six civilians, and targeted a "scientific research area" and other sites in the province's Masyaf area.

Israel declined to comment on those reported strikes.

Hezbollah has repeatedly targeted military positions in the Israeli-annexed Golan in recent months as part of attacks from Lebanon in support of ally Hamas following the Palestinian militant group's October 7 attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.

Syria has sought to stay out of the Israel-Hamas conflict, whose fallout has raised fears of a broader regional war.

Limited rocket attacks from Syria by Hezbollah-allied fighters have targeted the Israeli-held Golan since October.

Since Syria's civil war erupted in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in the country, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including from Lebanon's Hezbollah.

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

Israeli raids on Syria surged after Hamas' October 7 attack then eased somewhat after an April 1 strike blamed on Israel hit the Iranian consular building in Damascus, prompting Iran's first-ever direct attack against Israel.