Israeli airstrike kills six in Syria – media
An alleged Israeli airstrike has killed six Syrians, including military personnel and a humanitarian worker, on the border with Lebanon, the state-run SANA news agency in Damascus has reported.
While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) typically refuses to confirm or deny strikes on Syrian territory, such occurrences have become more frequent since the start of Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
In its article on Wednesday, SANA reported that two Syrian troops, a volunteer for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, and another three civilians, perished in the strike, which targeted the Arida and Dabousiya border crossings with Lebanon. Twelve more people were injured, including children and humanitarian workers, the news agency said.
SANA, citing an anonymous military source, said that “at 00:05AM, the Israeli enemy launched an aerial act of aggression from the direction of Lebanese territory.”
According to SANA, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent has confirmed the death of one of its volunteers, saying that the victim and their colleagues were providing medical assistance to those in need when they came under fire. The group added that several of its ambulances were also damaged by the airstrike.
The Syrian Arab Red Crescent has condemned the bombardment, stressing the need to respect international humanitarian law, as quoted by SANA. The humanitarian organization has temporarily withdrawn its crews from areas adjacent to the Lebanese border.
Last Wednesday, SANA reported another devastating attack on the Syrian city of Palmyra, which left at least 36 people dead and dozens more injured. The report cited an unnamed military source as saying the strike targeted a residential building, and was launched from the direction of the al-Tanf US military base in the southeast of the country, near the Jordanian border.
The American military contingent is stationed in Syria without Damascus’ consent, while Washington insists its presence there is necessary to combat Islamic State terrorists.
The Israeli website Ynet has claimed the bombardment killed at least ten Syrian soldiers. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, has put the death toll at 46, including “18 Syrian members of Iran-backed militias, [and] 22 individuals of non-Syrian nationality.”
The British-based group reported that the strike targeted a weapons depot, as well as facilities where an unnamed Hezbollah leader was supposedly located at the time.
Earlier this month, Israel said it had bombed transit routes on the Syria-Lebanon border used by the Lebanese militant group.
