Damascus: At least two Hezbollah members were killed on Monday near the Sayyeda Zeinab area south of Damascus, home to an important sanctuary and guarded by pro-Iranian groups, a war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the strikes hit a house “used by members of Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard,” in a farm in the Sayyeda Zeinab area.

Israel’s military has intensified its strikes on targets in Syria since it launched its war on Hezbollah in neighbouring Lebanon more than a month ago.

Two Hezbollah members were killed and several others were wounded, according to the monitor. Syrian state media also repor­ted the strikes but said they only caused material damage.

“At approximately 5:18 pm, the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, targeting a number of civilian sites south of Damascus, which led to some material losses,” the official SANA news agency said, citing a military source.

Mehdi Mahfouz, a 34-year-old resident of the area, said he “heard three successive explosions, one of which was very strong.” “Then I saw a large black cloud of smoke rising,” Mahfouz added.

The blasts were heard in the neighbouring Jaramana suburb of Damascus, according to a photographer, as ambulances headed to the area.

Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria.

Israeli authorities rarely comment on the strikes, but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence in Syria.

Syrian state media SANA said that initial reports indicated the strike hit the Sayeda Zeinab area. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2024