Israel hits Syria in heaviest raid on Iran proxies in months

A fire is seen burning in footage purportedly from the Syrian city of Homs, following an alleged Israeli airstrike, April 29, 2023. (Screenshot: Twitter)

Israel hits Syria in heaviest raid on Iran proxies in months

Reuters-March29th2024

BEIRUT, March 29 (Reuters) – Israel carried out its deadliest strikes in months on northern Syria’s Aleppo province early on Friday and said it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon, stepping up its campaign against Iran’s proxies in parallel with its war in Gaza.

Israel has ramped up airstrikes in Syria against both the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) since the Iranian-backed Palestinian faction Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, and in recent days its pilots have resumed regular practice for “deep” raids into Lebanon.

Tehran and its proxies have entrenched themselves across Syria, including around Aleppo and the capital Damascus.

The Israeli military said on Friday it had killed Ali Abed Akhsan Naim, deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missiles unit, in an airstrike in the area of Bazouriye in Lebanon.

It said he was one of the Iranian-backed militia’s leaders in heavy-warhead rocket fire and said he was responsible for conducting and planning attacks against Israeli civilians.

Israel and Hezbollah have also been trading fire across Lebanon’s southern border in the biggest escalation since they fought a month-long war in 2006, as Hezbollah has tried to show its support for Hamas with volleys of rockets into Israel.

About a dozen Israeli troops and half a dozen civilians have been killed in northern Israel, while nearly 270 Hezbollah fighters and 50 civilians including medics, civilians and journalists have been killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.

Israel has repeatedly struck international airports in both Damascus and Aleppo over the years to disrupt weapons flows to Iran’s allies in the region, but strikes since Oct. 7 have been deadlier and prompted Iran to withdraw some of its top officers from Syria.

Syria’s defence ministry said Israeli strikes hit several areas in the southeastern part of Aleppo province around 1:45 a.m. (2245 GMT on Thursday), killing a number of civilians and military personnel.