According to a war monitor, Israeli strikes in central Syria late on Sunday killed at least seven people, three of whom were civilians.
Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the civil war there began in 2011, primarily targeting pro-Iranian organizations.
“Three civilians—including a man and his son who were in a car—and four unidentified soldiers have been killed in the Israeli strikes on the Masyaf region,” the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which maintains a wide range of contacts inside the nation, reported.
According to the Observatory, the attack also destroyed nearby military facilities and left at least 15 other people injured.
In a previous statement, the group said, “Thirteen violent explosions rang out in the zone housing scientific research centers in Masyaf where pro-Iranian groups and weapons development experts are present.”
Citing a medical source, the Syrian state news agency Sana had earlier reported five deaths and 19 injuries close to Masyaf.
Sana reported, citing a military source, “the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the northwest of Lebanon around 11:20 pm (2020 GMT) on Sunday, targeting a number of military sites in the central region.”
“A few missiles were brought down by our air defense.”
Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which ignited the Gaza war, Israeli airstrikes into Syria have increased in frequency.
While Israeli officials rarely discuss specific strikes in Syria, they have made it clear time and time again that they will not permit Iran, their bitter enemy, to increase its influence there.
According to the Observatory, three pro-Iranian fighters were slain in strikes that were attributed to Israel at the end of August in the central Homs region.
A few days later, the Israeli military claimed to have struck Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, in Syria close to the Lebanese border, killing an unknown number of fighters.
