Iranian adviser killed in Zionist Syria strike: Media
BEIRUT: Iranian media said an adviser was killed in an early Monday Zionist strike on Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, which a war monitor said killed 16 members of pro-Iran groups. “During last night’s attack by the Zionist regime on Aleppo, Saeed Abyar, one of the IRGC advisers in Syria, was martyred,” said Iran’s Tasnim news agency, referring to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Earlier the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said: “The death toll of the (Zionist) strike on a factory in Hayyan in western Aleppo province has risen to 16 pro-Iran group members, including Syrian and foreign fighters.”
The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, initially reported 12 dead. It said pro-Iran groups comprising local and
foreign fighters have considerable influence in government-controlled Hayyan.
The Zionist entity has carried out hundreds of strikes on its northern neighbor since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters including from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group. The strikes increased after the Zionist entity’s war on Gaza began last October.
But the Observatory said they slowed after a deadly April 1 strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, blamed on the Zionist entity, that sent regional tensions skyrocketing and triggered Iran’s first-ever direct attack on the entity.
A Syrian defense ministry statement said that “after midnight ... the (Zionist) enemy launched an air attack from the southeast of Aleppo, targeting some positions” near the city. It reported “martyrs” and “some material damage”. While the entity rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria, it has repeatedly said it will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there.
According to the Observatory, Zionist strikes on Wednesday in western and central Syria killed a girl and six fighters working with Hezbollah, including three Syrians. — AFP