Nine Iranian militiamen killed in Israeli air strikes in Syria

Israeli air strikes over Syria’s Damascus killed nine Iran-backed militia fighters overnight in the latest in a series of bombings of Tehran’s proxies in the conflict-riven country.

Syria’s state-run media reported that air defence units “confronted Israeli aggression” over the capital but the UK based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – a war monitor that details casualties in the conflict using a network of local sources – reported the casualties.

The Israeli military, which began a surprise air force combat drill along the country's northern border this week, said: "it did not comment on foreign reports".

Israeli military planes flew over the Golan Heights to hit targets on the edge of the capital, a Syrian army statement said, without mentioning casualties but adding air defences downed most of the missiles.

"Our air defences are continuing to repel the Israeli missile attacks over the skies of the capital," they said.

A Syrian military defector said the bombing raids hit a major army division in the town of Kiswa, almost 14 kilometres south of the capital, in an sprawling area where Iranian-backed militias have a dominant presence.

Witnesses heard large explosions on the southern edge of Damascus, an area where Iranian-backed militias are entrenched, residents said.

Israeli officials have acknowledged carrying out attacks inside Syria aimed at ending Tehran's entrenched military presence in Syria.

Military chief of staff Aviv Kochavi said at the end of last year that Israeli missile strikes had "slowed down Iran's entrenchment in Syria", hitting more than 500 targets in 2020.

The army said on Monday that the surprise drill will last until Wednesday and there would be an increase in air traffic throughout the country. Explosions could be heard in northern Israel, it said.

The army said the "exercise simulates combat scenarios in the northern front, and will test all components in the [air force's] core missions, including maintaining aerial superiority, protecting the country's skies, as well as attacking and gathering intelligence".

Western intelligence sources say Iran's military influence has expanded in Syria in recent years, prompting Israel to escalate its campaign to prevent its archrival from establishing a major military foothold along its border.

Iran's proxy militias, led by Lebanon's Hezbollah, now hold sway over vast areas in eastern, southern and northwestern Syria, as well as several suburbs around Damascus. They also control Lebanese-Syrian border areas.

Israel, which in the past two months staged some of its biggest strikes yet inside Syria, has concentrated on Abu Kamal, the Syrian city that controls the border checkpoint on the main Baghdad-Damascus motorway.

The widening military campaign was part of a so-called "campaign within wars", which, according to Israeli generals and regional intelligence sources, had been tacitly approved by the United States.

The operations that aim to prevent Tehran from changing the balance of power in Syria in its favour have gradually eroded Iran’s extensive military power without triggering a major increase in hostilities, regional intelligence sources say.