Israeli strikes in Syria kill 16 and wound scores, Syrian state media says
More than a dozen people were killed and scores injured in multiple Israeli strikes that hit several areas in Syria's Hama province late on Sunday, damaging a highway and sparking fires, Syrian state news agency SANA said early on Monday.
The initial death count reported by the Masyaf National Hospital in the western Hama province was four, but the number of people killed in overnight Israeli strikes in Syria has risen to at least 16 dead and 43 wounded, according to Syrian state media.
Citing hospital head Faysal Haydar, SANA said 16 were killed and 43 wounded. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said at least four of those killed were civilians.
One of the strikes targeted a scientific research centre in Maysaf, and others struck sites where "Iranian militias and experts are stationed to develop weapons in Syria," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Local media also reported strikes around the coastal city of Tartous.
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There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations.
The strikes often target Syrian forces or Iranian-backed groups.
Israel has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria, mainly because Syria is a crucial route for Iran to send weapons to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has been clashing with Israeli forces for the past 11 months against the backdrop of Israel's war against Hamas — an ally of Hezbollah — in Gaza.
