War erupts in the Middle East: Israeli strike on Syria kills dozens of soldiers

Israel continues to attack the territory of its neighbors

More than 30 people were killed as a result of Israeli strikes on Syrian Aleppo. The number of attacks by Israel against its Arab neighbors has increased amid the ongoing war in Gaza and clashes with Hezbollah on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Photo: Still from video

Israeli airstrikes in Syria's northern Aleppo province have killed at least 38 people, including soldiers and civilians , reports Al Jazeera.

Among the dead were five members of the Lebanese armed Shiite group Hezbollah, security sources told Reuters.

The strikes took place around 1:45 a.m. Friday (2245 GMT Thursday) in several areas in rural Aleppo, the Syrian Defense Ministry said. The statement did not provide casualty figures, saying only that a number of civilians and military personnel were killed and property was damaged after Israel and unnamed armed groups carried out the strikes.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in posts on X that Israeli strikes targeted an arms depot near Aleppo International Airport, causing a series of large explosions.

At least 36 Syrian soldiers were killed , said an opposition military observer, adding that Hezbollah weapons depots were located in the area.

The Israeli military said it “will not comment on reports in foreign media.”

As the channel recalls, Israel has for years carried out strikes in Syria, where groups linked to Iran, including Hezbollah, dominate the eastern, southern and northwestern regions of the country, as well as in the suburbs around the capital Damascus.

Israeli attacks have intensified since the start of the current Gaza war in October, and Israel has also targeted Syrian army air defenses and some Syrian forces.

Several members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have also been targeted targets in Syria, where Tehran's influence has grown since it supported President Bashar al-Assad in the war that broke out in 2011, Al Jazeera notes.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged almost daily fire across their border since the Gaza war broke out, the biggest escalation since they fought a month-long conflict in 2006.

Since the war began in In Gaza, Israel exchanges almost daily cross-border attacks with Hamas' ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, raising fears of a major regional conflagration, The Guardian notes.

There have been fewer clashes with Israel in the past six months, according to an AFP tally. At least 346 people have been killed in Lebanon — mostly Hezbollah fighters, but at least 68 civilians have also been killed.

Although Iran-backed Hezbollah is a Lebanese group, it has sent fighters to Syria to support its ally, President Bashar al-Assad, since a rebellion broke out in 2011, quickly escalating into a civil war involving regional and global players. Since then, Hezbollah has continued to operate on Syrian territory.