Ten killed in new toll from Israeli air strikes on Syria

Ten people, including six civilians, were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting the Homs area in central Syria overnight Tuesday-Wednesday, according to a new toll announced by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, while Damascus announced that the airstrikes resulted in casualties among civilians.

Rami Abdul Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Agence France-Presse: "Ten people were killed, including six civilians and two fighters loyal to Iran, in an Israeli raid on a building in the Al-Hamra neighborhood of the city of Homs."

The Observatory explained that among the casualties were "three university students and a woman, while the identities of two bodies have not yet been identified."

"The building completely collapsed in one of the upscale neighborhoods in the city, and other sites affiliated with pro-Iranian groups in Homs and its surroundings were also targeted."

For its part, the Syrian Defense Ministry said in a statement that "the Israeli enemy launched an aerial aggression from the direction of northern Tripoli (in northern Lebanon) targeting a number of points in the city of Homs and its countryside, and our air defense intercepted the aggression missiles and shot down some of them, and the aggression resulted in the martyrdom and injury of a number of civilians."

Syrian state television aired footage showing rescue teams searching among the rubble of what appeared to be a collapsed building and evacuating a person on a stretcher.

Earlier, Syrian state television reported that "Zionist aggression is targeting some areas in Homs and its countryside."

Last week, the United States responded to an attack on its forces in Jordan with four strikes against Iran-backed factions in Syria and Iraq that resulted in dozens of deaths.

In January, Israeli strikes near Damascus killed eight people, including fighters loyal to Iran, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes in Syria in recent years, primarily targeting Iranian objectives and others belonging to Hezbollah, including warehouses, weapon shipments, and ammunition, as well as Syrian army sites.

However, these strikes intensified after the outbreak of war in Gaza following an unprecedented attack launched by Hamas on Israel on October 7.

Israel rarely confirms carrying out these strikes, but it reiterates that it will confront what it describes as Tehran's efforts to consolidate its military presence in Syria.

AFP