Suspected Israeli airstrike hits aid trucks in Syria: Monitor

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A suspected Israeli airstrike on Sunday struck aid trucks loaded with foods and supplies bound for refugees from Lebanon in Syria’s central Homs province, injuring three people, a war monitor reported.

“Israeli airstrikes attacked three trucks loaded with food and medical supplies at an Iranian car factory in Hasba’a industrial area in southern Homs, injuring three members of the relief teams,” the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. 

The convoy was “coming from Iraq to deliver humanitarian aid to the Lebanese affected by the Israeli airstrikes,” according to SOHR.

The Iraqi Red Crescent Society told Rudaw on Saturday that it has been providing humanitarian aid to Lebanon, including tons of food, blankets, and medicine, through air and ground since the latest conflict began two weeks ago.

SOHR, which relies on a network of local sources, reported that 150 trucks entered Syria from Iraq on Friday through the al-Bukamal - al-Qaam border crossing. 

On Friday, the Damascus-Beirut road was put out of service following Israeli airstrikes on both sides of the Syria-Lebaon border.

The UN Refugee Agency in an update on Thursday described the crossing as "the primary entry point for most of the Syrian and Lebanese families crossing into Syria."

This comes amid a recent escalation of Israeli operations in Lebanon targeting the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

According to data compiled by SOHR, about 200 Syrian nationals were killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes in Syria and Lebanon in September.

Since the conflict began, 1.2 million people, nearly a quarter of the Lebanese population, have been displaced, Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Wednesday.

The United Nations on Monday, citing Lebanese officials, reported that more than 1,600 people have been killed and 8,000 wounded in Lebanon by Israeli bombardments since October 2023.