Israeli strike kills 2 on Damascus-Beirut road: Monitor

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least two people were killed in an Israeli drone strike on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus, a war monitor reported on Tuesday, saying they were Iran-backed Hezbollah members. 

“Two people, believed to be members of the Lebanese Hezbollah, were killed and a third, a Syrian national … was injured when an Israeli drone targeted a car” on the Damascus-Beirut road, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor. 

It is the second Israeli strike on Syria in less than a day. Earlier on Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike targeted the coastal city of Baniyas, resulting in material damage. The Observatory said that Iranian military advisors were in the area. 

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria throughout its nearly 13-year civil war, often claiming to target pro-Iran militias which support the Syrian army, such as Hezbollah. 

While Israel rarely comments on strikes attributed to it in Syria, Israel has repeatedly warned that it would not tolerate its arch-rival Iran gaining a foothold there.

The strikes have increased since October 7, when Palestinian Hamas militants launched an unprecedented, large-scale attack on Israeli territory that prompted significant retaliation.

Last month, an Israeli airstrike killed two people near the Syrian capital of Damascus, according to Syrian state media, and another Israeli strike in southern Syria killed an army officer a week prior.