Israeli drone strike kills two Hezbollah fighters in Syria

An Israeli drone strike in central Syria killed two Hezbollah fighters on Saturday (May 25), said a war monitor.

"An Israeli drone fired two missiles at a Hezbollah car and truck near the town of Qusayr in Homs province, as they were on their way to Al-Dabaa military airport, killing at least two Hezbollah fighters and wounding others," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

This was the third Israeli strike against Lebanon's Iran-backed targets in Syria in about a week's time.

Earlier, Israeli strikes hit the Qusayr area, in the vicinity of the Lebanese border, and killed two men, said Observatory, a Britain-based monitor with a network of sources in Syria.

At least one out of the deceased was a Hezbollah fighter, the news agency AFP reported citing a source of the militant group.

Another strike, on May 18, targeted "a Hezbollah commander and his companion", the Observatory said. It did not report any casualties.

Israel has repeatedly stated that it will not let its arch-foe Iran expand its presence in Syria.

Israel has carried out several strikes in Syria since the civil war in its northern neighbour broke out, primarily aiming at army positions and Iran-backed fighters including from Hezbollah.

The strikes multiplied since the outbreak of Israel's war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, on Oct 7, when the Palestinian militant group launched an unprecedented attack against Israel.

Last month, Syria had accused Israel of launching attacks targeting army positions.

Syria's defence ministry released a statement saying, "The Israeli enemy carried out an attack using missiles... targeting our air defence sites in the southern region" and causing material damage.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that Israel hit the army radar position in the southern province of Daraa that had detected the entry of Israeli planes into Syria's airspace.

Head of the Britain-based Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman said that the air offensive occurred at the time "when the Israeli air force was flying intensively over the Daraa region".

Syria's foreign ministry condemned "in the strongest terms" Friday's "Israeli aggression and the attacks before it on its territory".

Syria called on "the international community and the United Nations... to take all deterrence measures to stop" the Israeli attacks, the ministry said in a statement carried by state news agency SANA.

(With inputs from agencies)