Israel attacks Iran-allied militias in Syria
Military sites destroyed, family killed in Hama
Cairo: Israel early Friday mounted a missile attack on Iran-allied militias’ positions in Syria, the second in more than a week, a monitor has reported.
The bombardment targeted at least five sites housing fighters from the Iran-backed militias and the Lebanese group Hezbollah fighting along Syrian government forces, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added.
The sites located in Syria’s central governorate of Hama were completely destroyed, according to the Observatory.
Remnants of rockets fired by the Syrian air defences to intercept the Israeli missiles resulted in killing a local family, it added.
Syria’s official news agency SANA acknowledged the attack, saying the government air defences had “repelled an Iraeli aggression” and shot down most of the Israeli missiles.
The agency, quoting a military source, added that the attack had resulted in killing a four-member family, injuring four other civilians and destroying three houses in the area.
On January 13, at least 57 military personnel were killed in a series of Israeli attacks in east Syria, the highest toll from such attacks in the war-wracked country, the Observatory reported at the time.
Those strikes hit positions of the government forces and their allied Lebanese Hezbollah and pro-Iran militias in the eastern governorate of Deir Al Zour near the border with Iraq.
In recent years, Israel has unleashed a string of airstrikes in Syria mainly targeting Iranian military facilities and militias there. In a rare disclosure, the Israeli army said it had hit about 50 targets inside Syria.