Three people, including an Iranian adviser, were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted Banyas, a town on the Syrian coast, for the first time, a local NGO said on Friday.
• Also read: Two Hezbollah members were killed in an Israeli attack in Syria
• Also read: Syria: At least two dead in Israeli attack in Damascus
“Three powerful explosions occurred at dawn on Friday, the result of a likely Israeli airstrike on a 'villa' in Banyas housing an Iran-linked group,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said.
According to the UK-based NGO, which has an extensive network of sources in the war-torn country, the attack targeted the city of Banyas for the first time, killing three people, including an Iranian adviser who was completely destroyed.
Tehran has been sending soldiers presented as advisors to support the Syrian army since 2011.
Israel has intensified its attacks on Syria since the Gaza war began in October 2023 between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas. These attacks are particularly aimed at Iran-aligned groups such as the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.
On Wednesday, the OSDH said a pro-Iranian Hezbollah fighter was killed by an Israeli drone strike near the Syria-Lebanese border, where the Shiite movement is heavily deployed in support of the Syrian regime.
Israel had already carried out strikes against targets near Damascus on Wednesday and Thursday. The OSDH reported that sites of pro-Iranian groups, including Hezbollah, had been attacked and reported two deaths among fighters.
Since late December, at least three additional attacks have targeted Iranian targets in Syria in a tense regional context. At the end of January, eight people, including pro-Iranian fighters, were killed in an Israeli attack south of Damascus, according to the OSDH.
The Israeli army has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria since the civil war began in the neighboring country in 2011.
Israel rarely comments on its attacks but has said it will not allow Iran, its arch-enemy, to gain a foothold on its border.