BEIRUT: The Defense Ministry of Syria has said that an Israeli air strike killed a girl and injured 10 civilians on the country’s coast, with a war monitor reporting another strike killing three pro-Hezbollah fighters.
A ministry statement said the Israeli enemy carried out an air assault from the direction of Lebanon, targeting a residential building in the city of Baniyas, killing a girl and wounding 10 civilians.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported that the girl was killed after an Israeli missile and Syrian air defense missile fell on the coastal city of Baniyas.
“Two explosions resonated… in the coastal city of Baniyas, killing a girl,” said the Britain-based monitor, which put the number of civilians injured in the incident to more than 20.
The Observatory added the explosions were caused by an Israeli missile and a Syrian air defense missile falling.
It also reported that an Israeli strike on central Syria killed three Syrians working with Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
It said three Syrian fighters working with the Lebanese Hezbollah group were killed in an Israeli strike hitting a military site in Homs.
State media earlier had said air defenses intercepted Israeli targets over central part of Syria.
Syrian air defense intercepts targets
The official SANA news agency reported that the Syrian air defense intercepts enemy targets in the skies of Homs.
The Observatory said the Israeli strikes hit at least one military site near Homs, causing plumes of smoke.
The monitor, which has a network of sources in Syria, reported that the area also hosts members of Lebanon’s powerful group Hezbollah.
On Saturday, an Israeli drone strike in Syria, near the Lebanese border, killed two Hezbollah fighters, said the Observatory.
Israel rarely comments on the individual strikes in Syria but has repeatedly said it will not allow its enemies to expand their presence in Syria.
Israel has so far conducted hundreds of strikes in Syria since the outbreak of the civil war in its northern neighbor, mainly hitting army positions and Hezbollah.
The strikes have been increased since the war between Israel and Hamas started on October 7 in Gaza.
So far more than half a million people have been killed and millions displaced in Syria since the civil war erupted in 2011.
