Israeli airstrikes on Syria kill dozens, hit weapons depot

Israeli airstrikes in Syria killed dozens of people including members of the Hezbollah terrorist group, one of the deadliest attacks on the war-torn country since Oct. 7.

Syria’s state-run news agency said Israel launched rockets overnight southeast of Aleppo, killing and wounding a number of people. At least 42 died, including six Hezbollah terrorists, according to the U.K.-based Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks developments on the ground in Syria.

The Friday strikes also hit a missile depot near Aleppo airport and a defense compound, said the group, which estimates the attack as Israel’s biggest in Syria in three years.

Israel rarely comments on such incidents in Syria but officials have repeatedly said they would seek to obstruct the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah and other Iran-allied militias via Syria.

Iran has long vowed to destroy Israel.

Israel has for years routinely struck targets in Syria, mainly to thwart Hezbollah or secure its own northeastern border. Those strikes have increased since Israel’s war with Hamas, another Iran-backed group, erupted in October in Gaza.

Since then, hundreds of Iran-backed militiamen have moved from the Iraq-Syria border to be nearer Israel.

Iran Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani condemned the latest Israeli attacks, calling them a “blatant and desperate attempt to prolong and expand the crisis in the region,” according to a statement on Telegram.

Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Israel, who fought a 33-day war in 2006, have engaged in almost daily cross-border fire since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. The skirmishes have been mostly confined to army targets and the militia’s fighters and warehouses.

Tensions escalated this week after Hezbollah fired rockets with heavy warheads at towns in northern Israel.

The group, which is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., European Union and Canada, said the attack was in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes the night before.

The recent increase in violence has raised alarm in Washington and at the United Nations.

“Restoring calm along that border remains a top priority for President Biden and for the administration,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters. “We’ve also been very, very clear: We do not support a war in Lebanon.”