BEIRUT – Eight Iranians were among 15 foreign pro-regime fighters killedin a suspected Israeli strike in Syria on a weapons depot of Iran’s eliteRevolutionary Guards, a war monitor said Wednesday.
The raid struck the area of Kisweh south of Damascus late Tuesday, theBritain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
Syria’s official news agency SANA said the army had intercepted two Israelimissiles fired towards Kisweh, with state television broadcasting images offires in the nearby area.
“The death toll of the missile strike has risen to 15 pro-regime fighters– eight from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and others not of Syriannationality,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
The monitor previously reported nine pro-regime combatants had died in theraid, without specifying their nationality.
SANA quoted a medical source saying that two civilians had died on ahighway linking Damascus with the southern city of Deraa as a result of anexplosion linked to “the Israeli aggression”.
Late Tuesday, the Israeli-occupied section of the Golan Heights was placedon high alert due to “irregular activity by Iranian forces” across thedemarcation line in Syria.
It is not the first time that Kisweh has been targeted. In December, Israelreportedly bombed military positions in the area south of Damascus,including a weapons depot.
Since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011, Israel has repeatedlytargeted positions of the Syrian army and the Lebanese Hezbollah movementbacking it inside the country.
On April 29, missile strikes — “probably Israeli” — fired on regimemilitary positions killed at least 26 mostly Iranian fighters, according tothe Observatory.
On April 9, missiles targeted the T-4 air base in the central province ofHoms, killing up to 14 fighters, including seven Iranians, two days afteran alleged chemical attack carried out by the Syrian regime.
Damascus accused Israel of carrying out the strike.
Israel and Syria are still officially in a state of war, though thearmistice line on the sector of the Golan Heights which the Jewish stateseized from its Arab neighbour in 1967 was largely quiet for decades untilthe Syrian civil war broke out in 2011.
In an interview late last month, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Liebermanvowed to strike at any attempt by Iran to establish a “military foothold”in Syria. – APP/AFP