Suspected Israeli Air Strike Hits Targets in Syria's Aleppo

An unknown number of people were killed in an Israeli air attack targeting sites in the vicinity of the Syrian city of Aleppo on Monday, Syrian state media said citing a military source.

This was the second reported attack on the country in less than a week, following a string of air strikes since the October 7 Hamas invasion of Israel. Some sources said the targets were affiliated with Iranian-backed forces in the region. Israel usually does not comment about its air strikes in Syria.

The strikes at around 12:20 a.m. early Monday (2120 GMT on Sunday) "led to a number of fatalities and some material damage", the source said, without elaborating. Independent sources have not reported more details so far.

Israel launched air attacks on May 29 on Syria's central region as well as the coastal city of Baniyas, killing a child and injuring ten civilians, according to Syrian state media.

A devastating air strike on April 1 flattened a building in the Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus, where two senior Revolutionary Guard generals and five other officers died. Reportedly, these individuals were involved in operations aimed at intensifying attacks on Israel. This led to a massive Iranian missile and drone retaliatory attack against Israel on April 13, which inflicted minimal damage. Most projectiles were shot down.

For years Israel has been carrying out attacks against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran's influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that started in 2011.

The danger of a direct military confrontation between Iran and Israel has subsided since the April flareup, but the Iranian presence in Syria remains a challenge for Jerusalem.