Syria: an NGO reports at least sixteen members of pro-Iranian groups killed in an Israeli raid near Aleppo
At least sixteen members of pro-Iranian groups were killed in the night from Sunday to Monday by an Israeli strike targeting a factory in a town near Aleppo, in northern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. human rights (OSDH).
Since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes targeting the army of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime and the pro-Iranian groups based there and supporting it.
The nighttime strikes targeted a factory in which pro-Iranian groups are based, “causing strong explosions”according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH). “Sixteen people, Syrians and foreigners, were killed”, added the NGO based in the United Kingdom, but which has a vast network of sources in the country at war, without specifying whether they were all combatants. The NGO gave an initial report of 12 deaths during the night.
In a statement, the Syrian defense ministry said that” after midnight (…)the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the southeast of Aleppo, targeting some positions near Aleppo”adding that “the aggression caused several martyrs and material damage”.
According to the OSDH, based in the United Kingdom but which has a vast network of sources in the country at war, rescuers and firefighters rushed to the scene to put out the fires that had broken out and transport the injured. The NGO added that Hayyan is “controlled by pro-Iranian groups composed of Syrians and foreigners”.
Israeli strikes have intensified since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip in October. On Wednesday evening, two Israeli strikes targeted a coastal town and central Syria, killing a little girl, according to official Syrian media, and three Syrian fighters from Hezbollah, an ally of Damascus, according to the OSDH.
And at the end of March, at least 52 Syrian soldiers and Hezbollah fighters had been killed in Israeli strikes in Aleppo, according to the OSDH, the heaviest toll for the Syrian army in these strikes in Syria since the start of october.
Israeli authorities rarely comment on the strikes but have repeatedly said they would not allow its archenemy Iran to expand its presence in Syria.
