At least six pro-Iran combatants were killed in an alleged Israeli missile strike in Syria late Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday.
All of those killed were foreign nationals operating as part of paramilitary forces loyal to the Bashar Assad regime.
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Earlier Friday, Syrian state media SANA said air defenses intercepted Israeli missiles over the western province of Hama.
State media released videos from the city of Maysaf allegedly showing Syrian air defenses confronting "Israeli aggression."
Agence France-Presse reported that Israeli warplanes were heard over Lebanon just before the strikes.
"At 12:40 this morning, the Israeli enemy launched an aggression by directing a barrage of missiles from the north of the Lebanese city of Tripoli towards the Masyaf area in the western Hama countryside," a statement by the Syrian military said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israel destroyed warehouses and the headquarters of a scientific research center, which housed Iranian militias. It also reported ambulances arriving at the scene and multiple casualties.
Maysaf is home to several important military installations for Syria, and is the site of another major attack attributed to Israel on June 4. According to Syrian sources, Israel killed nine, including Iran-backed fighters.
Israel has not commented on the attack, but it has said that it will not tolerate Iranian-backed militias in Syria.
In the past few years, Israel has acknowledged carrying out dozens of airstrikes in Syria, most of them aimed at suspected Iranian weapons shipments believed to be bound for Hezbollah. In recent months, Israeli officials have expressed concern that Hezbollah is trying to establish production facilities to make precision-guided missiles.
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