A fresh wave of Israeli attacks hit a wide range of targets in southern, central and eastern Syria, the Syrian army, observers and intelligence sources told news agencies.
The Syrian army said Israeli jets hit an army outpost in Hama province only hours after missiles struck other military installations in the eastern Deir al Zor province along the border with Iraq and in southern Syria near the border with Jordan.
Earlier an army statement said several attacks occurred simultaneously, one at a military outpost in Kabajib, east of Deir Zor province and in the vicinity of the town of Sukhna in the nearby eastern desert.
The targets reported hit are in zones in eastern and southern Syria which Israel had attacked in recent months and which are believed to have a strong presence of Iranian-backed militias.
The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Rami Abdel Rahman, told dpa, "the attack was an Israeli aerial attack" that also targeted Iranian-backed militia posts in the countryside of Sweida. In a later statement, the SOHR said Syrian forces and Iran-backed militias were bombed by what appeared to be Israeli aircraft in the countryside of the north-western Hama province. Violent explosions were heard at a military post, a cultural center and a feed factory, and casualties were reported, the Observatory said.
A senior Syrian military defector and a regional intelligence source told reuters an Iranian arms depot near the city of Salamiya was set on fire after it was repeatedly bombed while a command center in the town of Sabura run by Iranian militias was also severely damaged.
So far there have been no comments by the Israeli military.
Reuters says that according to “regional intelligence sources” Israel’s strikes on Syria are part of a shadow war approved by Washington and part of the anti-Iran policy that has targeted Iran’s extensive military presence in Syria without triggering a major increase in hostilities.
Israel has acknowledged conducting many raids inside Syria, especially in the past three years. Israeli defense officials have said in recent weeks Israel would step up its campaign against Iran in Syria.
