At least two killed in Israeli strike on southern Syria

Attack near Sayyida Zeinab hit service centre of foundation linked to pro-Iranian groups, war monitor says

A missile strike on Damascus in January that killed several members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Reuters

Two people were killed and a soldier was injured in an Israeli strike on southern Syria on Wednesday night, Syrian state media reported.

“At around 11.40pm, the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial assault from the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting a number of positions in the southern region, killing two people and injuring a soldier,” the Sana news agency said, quoting a military source.

It said Syrian air defence shot down some missiles, without giving further details.

Three people were killed in the strike, which hit the service centre of a foundation affiliated with pro-Iranian groups including Lebanon's Hezbollah, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The war monitor, which relies on a network of sources in Syria, said the strike happened near Sayyida Zeinab, home to an important Shiite shrine and defended by pro-Iranian militias and the army.

It said the dead included an elderly woman and added that 11 people were injured.

A Syrian army officer was killed in the same region on June 19, Sana reported.

Israel rarely comments on the strikes reported by Syria, but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in the country.

It has carried out hundreds of such strikes since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, mainly on army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including from Hezbollah, supporting the government forces.

A strike on Iranian embassy compound in Damascus on April 1 killed two senior commanders and several other members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, prompting the Tehran to launch a direct attack on Israel days later with missiles and drones, most of which were intercepted by Israel and its allies.

Iran has long been a key ally of the Syrian government, but has said repeatedly that it has no combat troops in Syria, only officers to provide military advice and training.