At least eight Syrian regime fighters were killed in nightly Israeli strikes on Homs province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) reported on Wednesday (June 9th).
"At least five army soldiers and three allied 'National Defense' fighters were killed in Homs" in strikes Tuesday shortly before midnight in several regions, including the suburb of Homs, told AFP the director of OSDH, Rami Abdel Rahmane.
"The eight fighters are Syrians", he added, noting "several wounded".
The strikes targeted "military positions of the Air Force east of the village of Khirbet al-Tin on the outskirts of Homs," according to OSDH.
They also targeted "an arms depot belonging to Lebanese Hezbollah" in the same area, according to the NGO.
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On Tuesday evening, the Israeli air force carried out strikes in several regions in Syria, Damascus and its surroundings as well as in the provinces of Homs, Hama and Lattakia, according to OSDH.
The official Syrian agency Sana for its part reported an "Israeli aggression" in Syria, followed by reprisals from the Syrian air defense.
Israeli planes have arrived from "Lebanese airspace," said Sana, who first reported "explosions in Damascus".
The agency did not report any casualties.
No comment on the Israeli side
"These are the first Israeli strikes in Syria since the recent war in Gaza" between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, Rami Abdel Rahmane told AFP.
The Israeli army, which rarely claims responsibility for its strikes in Syria, said it did not comment on "information from abroad."
Since the start of the war in neighboring Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syrian territory, targeting positions of the Assad regime but also those of the Iranian forces and the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, great allies of the Syrian power.
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Israel regularly asserts that it will not allow Syria to become the foothold for the forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a country enemy of the Hebrew state.
Triggered in March 2011 by the repression of pro-democracy demonstrations, the war in Syria has become more complex over the years with the proliferation of belligerents.
It killed nearly 500,000 people, according to OSDH.
With AFP
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