Israeli strikes in Syria have intensified since the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel turned into open war in late September. The official Syrian agency reported a new strike this Monday on a neighborhood south of Damascus where fighters from pro-Iranian groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah, are based.
The Israeli army “carried out an air operation and struck […] targets belonging to Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in Syria,” she said in a statement, adding that it had “an independent information collection, coordination and review network under direct command of the head of Hezbollah’s intelligence services.”
“According to initial information, an Israeli aggression targeted the surroundings of Sayyeda Zeinab”, an important Shiite sanctuary, said the Sana agency.
Area occupied by Hezbollah
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), the strike targeted “a house on a farm in the Sayyeda Zeinab sector used by members of Lebanese Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards”.
Our file on the war in the Middle East
According to OSDH, based in the United Kingdom and which has a vast network of sources in Syria, pro-Iranian groups are strongly established in the Sayyeda Zeinab region, an important Shiite pilgrimage site.
Since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on the country targeting the Syrian army but especially groups supported by Tehran, notably Hezbollah, deployed in support of government forces.
