ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Israeli airstrikes targeted multiple locations in Aleppo in the early hours of Friday, including positions of Iran-backed militias and Syrian military bases, killing at least 36 Syrian regime soldiers and injuring dozens others, a war monitor reported.
The death toll was revised on Saturday to 52 killed, including 28 regime soldiers and seven members of Lebanese Hezbollah.
The Syrian defense ministry said that the attacks were launched at around 1:45 am, striking several military positions in the countryside of Aleppo, killing and injuring a number of civilians and military men.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the attacks struck a weapons depot belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, near Aleppo International Airport, as well “defense factories” in al-Safira subdistrict, 25 kilometers southeast of Aleppo.
The airport was not damaged in the attacks, SOHR noted.
The war monitor described the overnight strikes as being among Israel’s deadliest attacks on regime forces in Syrian territory.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria throughout its nearly 13-year civil war, often claiming to strike pro-Iran militias such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah that supports the Syrian army.
Israel has intensified its strikes on Syria since October 7. It has attacked Syrian territory at least 26 times since the start of the year, killing around 90 people and wounding over 20 others, according to SOHR.
At least two civilians were killed after an Israeli attack struck a residential building in the countryside of Damascus, Syrian state media reported.
While it 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.
Updated on March 31, 2024 at 9am with new death toll
