Earlier on Friday, Israel launched its deadliest attack in months on Syria’s northern Aleppo province, stepping up its campaign against Iranian proxies amid its war in Gaza.
Israel has stepped up airstrikes against the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Syria since the Iran-backed Palestinian faction Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, and its pilots have resumed regular training in recent days Deep” attack on Lebanon.
Tehran and its proxies have established themselves across Syria, including around Aleppo and in the capital, Damascus.
Israel has repeatedly struck the two cities’ international airports over the years to stem the flow of weapons to Iran’s allies in the region, but the attacks since Oct. 7 have been more deadly and prompted Iran to withdraw some senior officials from Syria.
The Syrian Ministry of Defense stated that at around 1:45 a.m. local time, Israel launched air strikes in multiple areas in southeastern Aleppo Province, killing many civilians and military personnel.
The strikes coincided with drone attacks from Idlib and rural areas in western Aleppo, which the ministry said were carried out by “terrorist groups” targeting civilians in and around Aleppo, the statement said.
The Israeli military declined to comment. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a post on X that Israel’s attack on Syria was a “blatant and desperate attempt” to expand the war, but did not disclose whether there were any Iranian casualties.
Three security sources told Reuters that 33 Syrians and five Hezbollah fighters were killed in the attack. One of the sources said one of the Hezbollah fighters was a local field commander whose brother was killed in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon in November.
This is the highest single death toll from Israeli air strikes in Syria since October 7.
Firefight on Israel-Lebanon border
Israel and Hezbollah are also fighting on Lebanon’s southern border in the most serious escalation since a month-long war in 2006, with Hezbollah trying to fire rockets at Israel to show support for Hamas.
Some 12 Israeli soldiers and six civilians were killed in northern Israel, while nearly 270 Hezbollah fighters and 50 civilians (including medics, civilians and journalists) were killed in Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon.
An Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon on Friday killed a Hezbollah fighter, Lebanese security sources said.
Esmail Qaani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, met with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut in February to discuss Israel’s response to The risk of a full-scale Hezbollah offensive, backed by assurances that Hezbollah would not drag Iran into trouble. War with Israel, sources say.
Hezbollah says it will stop firing on Israel if a ceasefire is reached in Gaza. However, Israeli and U.S. officials said the ceasefire in Gaza would not automatically extend to Lebanon.
Normal training activities for Israeli air force pilots that were suspended at the start of the Gaza war have resumed in recent weeks, with intensified long-range strike exercises across the northern border, the Israeli military said this week.
“The training program will focus on improving the Indian Air Force’s combat readiness in long-term combat in the northern sector and other areas,” the Indian Air Force said in a statement.
The exercise included practicing “large-scale, long-range strikes and penetration into enemy territory,” the statement added.
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