The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday that seven Iran-backed paramilitary fighters were killed in the Monday Israeli strikes on Syria, which also killed one civilian and three Syrian regime members.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the casualties in war-torn Syria, seven non-Syrian militiamen of Iranian-backed militias and Hezbollah were killed in Israeli rocket attacks on their positions in the southern province of Daraa.
The attacks began on Monday night, and included rocket attacks from Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and air raids on areas close to the Damascus International Airport in the south of the capital.
The official government news agency of Syria, SANA, confirmed on Monday that Israel had carried out strikes on certain Syrian military positions and published footage of its air defense against Israeli rockets. SANA also announced three casualties from the strikes, including a civilian, with seven additional fighters requiring medical attention. casualties sustained by paramilitary fighters allied with Syria and Iran were not mentioned in the report.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday said a "decisive decision" had been taken to retaliate, adding that Hezbollah was "not in a hurry".
Israel usually does not acknowledge its airstrikes on Syria, and Israeli officials have yet not made any comments about the Monday attacks, but on Wednesday, Israel said it had launched airstrikes against Hezbollah observation posts in Lebanon after shots were fired from across the border.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently warned Iran about trying to establish a military presence in Syria.
Iran's Armed Forces' spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi two months ago claimed that over the years, only eight members of the Iranian military have lost their lives in Syria, and refuted claims that hundreds of them have been killed.
Iran signed an agreement with Syria two months ago to equip the Syrian military against Israeli attacks with its own homegrown air defense systems.
Israel and the United Arab Emirates recently made a deal to establish full diplomatic relations, with direct commercial flights from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi beginning on Monday.Iran considers the deal a threat against its own security, and the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Tuesday called it a betrayal of the Islamic world, Arab nations and Palestine, adding, "Of course, this betrayal won't last long but the stigma will stay with them. I hope the Emiratis soon wake up and compensate for what they have done".
With reporting from AFP