Dozens Reported Killed in Syria’s Aleppo, in Attack Blamed on Israel

By Yoni Weiss

Syrian media reported overnight Thursday that Israel attacked in the area of the city of Aleppo in the northwest of the country. According to foreign security officials quoted by Reuters, the death toll stands at least 38 people, along with dozens more wounded in the attack, which targeted Hezbollah’s headquarters and weapons depots of pro-Iranian militias near Aleppo International Airport. According to Reuters, five of the dead are Hezbollah terrorists. Footage from the moment of the attack shows huge explosions and mushrooms of fire.

The Syrian Ministry of Defense claimed that Israel attacked several points in the countryside of Aleppo. According to the ministry, the Israeli attack was carried out together with a UAV attack by local terrorist organizations, and resulted in the death and injury of a number of civilians and military personnel, and material damage. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition organization to the Assad regime operating from London, reported that Syrian air defense systems were activated but the rockets reached their destination.

According to sources for the Qatari Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news organization, the attack in Syria was carried out with rockets carrying explosive material aimed at a building that served as Hezbollah’s headquarters in the area east of the airport in Aleppo, where there are also weapons warehouses belonging to the pro-Iranian militias. According to the sources, one of the Syrian air defense missiles fell near one of the villages near Jabrin and caused a fire. It is not yet clear whether some of the victims were hit by the fall of the Syrian missile.

Earlier, the Kol HaBira news website, which is affiliated with the Syrian opposition, reported that the attack was also aimed at factories in the As-Safirah area near Aleppo. The Saudi news channel Al-Hadth reported from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that there were three explosions in the area of the airport. The Lebanese Al-Mayadeen network, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, reported that the air defense systems were activated in the area.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the attack.

About 10 days ago, the Syrian Ministry of Defense accused Israel of attacking military sites in the Damascus area. The ministry claimed that several missiles were intercepted in the sky over the capital, and that there were no casualties in the attack.

At the beginning of the month, an unusual attack in northwest Syria was attributed to Israel, after which it was claimed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards advisor in Syria, Reza Zarei, was killed. According to the reports, he was killed along with two other non-Syrian Hezbollah operatives.