Five soldiers were wounded in an Israeli airstrike in Syria’s Homs province early Sunday, Syrian state media reported. In Iran, state media reported that an Iranian adviser who was wounded in an Israeli attack died of his wounds on Friday.
Since the start of the Syrian conflict in March 2011, Iran has been a main supporter of the government of President Bashar Assad and has sent advisers since the early days of the war.
Sunday’s strike marked the ninth time Israel has struck targets in Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-affiliated war-watcher.
State news agency SANA quoted military sources as saying the attacks targeted the city of Homs and the surrounding countryside. Syrian air defence intercepted the missiles and shot down some of them, it said.
The observatory reported that the missiles targeted Syrian military sites, including a research center, and militias linked to Iran. There was no immediate statement from Israel on the strikes.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, including attacks on Damascus and Aleppo airports, but it rarely acknowledges specific operations.
Israel says it targets targets of Iran-allied militant groups such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Assad’s forces. On Friday, Israeli airstrikes struck suburbs of the Syrian capital Damascus, killing an Iranian adviser, Syrian and Iranian state media reported.
Iran’s state television reported on Friday that Milad Haidari, an Iranian military adviser, was killed during a criminal strike by Israel. Iranian state media reported on Sunday that another Revolutionary Guard adviser who was wounded in Friday’s strike succumbed to his wounds.
Iran’s state TV identified the adviser as Meghdad Mahghani and said his funeral would take place in Damascus on Sunday. Last month, Israeli airstrikes targeting the airport in Aleppo closed it for two days.
The airport has been a main transit point for aid shipments since a deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Syria and Turkey on 6 February. Israel has also attacked ports in government-held areas of Syria in an apparent attempt to block Iranian arms shipments to terrorist groups backed by Tehran, including Hezbollah.