Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least Six in Southern Syria

Two Syrian soldiers are among the slain

At least six people were killed and 10 others wounded Monday night in a flurry of Israel missile strikes against southern Syria. These are the first reported Israeli strikes inside Syria in several weeks.

As is so often the case, Israel is not commenting on the strikes directly, but Syrian state media confirmed the incident, noting two of the dead and seven of the wounded were Syrian soldiers who were hit in the strike.

Three foreign militia members were also among the slain, as was a civilian. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights speculated that the attacks targeted Hezbollah in the area, though Israel has yet to confirm this.

That would be in keeping with many of the Israeli strikes in recent months, which rarely are meant to target the Syrian military, but rather hit Shi’ite militia groups like Hezbollah, or Iraq’s Shi’ite organizations. Israel tends to present any Shi’ites killed as “Iranian,” even though in practice there are few actual Iranians among them.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.