AFP Beirut

Beirut

Updated Friday, March 29, 2024-09:15

  • Israel War - Hamas Israel ignores UN resolution and increases bombing in Gaza and southern Lebanon

At least 42 people were killed by an Israeli attack early Friday in the

Aleppo

region of northern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), a London-based NGO.

This organization, with a wide network of sources in

Syria

, noted that the attack

targeted "Hezbollah missile depots"

, a Lebanese movement that fights alongside the Syrian regime.

The Observatory said

36 Syrian soldiers and six Hezbollah fighters were killed

, and dozens of people were wounded. It is the deadliest toll among the ranks of the Syrian army due to Israeli attacks since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip almost half a year ago, according to this organization.

A Syrian military source, cited by the official Syrian press agency Sana, reported "several deaths and injuries among civilians and soldiers" due to an Israeli attack on army positions around Aleppo. "The Israeli enemy launched an airstrike against different positions in

Athriya

, southeast of Aleppo," this source said.

There were also

actions directed against factories

that depend on the Syrian Ministry of Defense in Safira, near Aleppo, but which are now under the control of pro-Iran groups, according to the OSDH.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli army responded that it "does not comment" on press reports.

On Thursday, an attack hit a residential property on the outskirts of

Damascus

, causing at least two injuries, the Sana press agency had reported, which blamed the action on Israel.

Ramifications of the conflict in Gaza

Since the start of the war in Syria, the Israeli army has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against the neighboring country, especially against positions of pro-Iran groups. These actions have intensified since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement in October.

Israel rarely comments on these attacks, but says it will not allow its arch-enemy Iran to establish itself on its border.

The war in Syria has left more than half a million dead

, displaced millions of people and devastated the country.

The conflict began in 2011 with an uprising against President

Bashar al-Assad

that descended into a civil war after the regime, backed by Tehran, began a fierce crackdown on dissidents.

The Lebanese

Hezbollah

movement sent its fighters to Syria to support

Damascus

and protect its supply lines with Iran and has continued to operate in that country since then.

The usual hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel have also intensified since the start of the war in Gaza, with constant exchanges of attacks on the border between the Jewish State and Lebanon.

The Israeli military announced in March that it had attacked

"around 4,500 Hezbollah targets" in Lebanon and Syria

, "more than 1,200" of them through airstrikes, since the outbreak of the conflict in Gaza.