Israeli strikes kill 12 Iran-backed fighters near Syria’s Damascus
Israeli air strikes killed 12 Iran-backed fighters
near Damascus and in southern Syria early Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights said.
Seven foreign fighters were killed in the Kiswa area
south of Damascus, where Iranian and pro-Iran foreign fighters are present, the
Britain-based war monitor said.
Five Syrian members of an Iran-backed group were
killed in the Ezra area of Daraa province, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman
said.
A Syrian army source quoted by state news agency
SANA said air defenses responded to two waves of Israeli strikes after midnight
that targeted the Damascus area and then positions in Daraa and the adjacent
province of Quneitra.
The source said the attack wounded eight fighters,
without elaborating on their rank or nationality.
An Israeli army spokesman contacted by AFP early
Thursday declined to comment on the strikes.
Iran and its allied proxy Hezbollah have sent
militants to fight alongside the regime of Bashar al-Assad in the nine-year-old
war in Syria.
