Ten killed in Israeli strikes in western Syria: Monitor

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Israeli airstrikes targeted alleged positions of Iran-backed militias in the outskirts of western Syria’s Homs in the early hours of Wednesday, killing at least ten people, according to a war monitor.

The Syrian defense ministry said that the strikes were launched at around 12:30 am local time, targeting military positions in Homs and its vicinities, resulting in the death and injury of “some” civilians, without providing a number.

The United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that the targeted areas contain positions of the Syrian regime forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, adding that the strikes killed three civilians and two other unidentified individuals. At least seven others were wounded.

SOHR later revised the death toll to at least 10 killed, including six civilians. 

A senior leader in the Iran-backed militias is among the killed, according to the war monitor.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria throughout its 12-year civil war, often claiming to strike pro-Iran militias such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah group that supports the Syrian army.

Israel has intensified its strikes on Syria since October 7. It has attacked Syrian territory at least nine times since the start of the year, killing at least 30 and wounding seven others, according to SOHR.

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.