Monitor says Israel strike on Syria weapons depots kills 10

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the area of al-Hosh, on the outskirts of Tyre in southern Lebanon, on October 31, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. Photo / AFP

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in strikes on Syria’s Qusayr region bordering Lebanon, where Israel said it hit Hezbollah weapons depots.

The Britain-based war monitor said today three strikes targeted the town of Qusayr, where Iran-backed Hezbollah holds sway, and surrounding areas, later reporting further strikes on the area.

One strike targeted “a weapons depot and a fuel storage facility for Hezbollah in the industrial city of Qusayr”, killing seven civilians and three Syrian fighters working for the Lebanese group, the Observatory said.

At least 11 other people were wounded, it said, adding the other strikes targeted warehouses near the Lebanese border and a bridge south of Qusayr.

The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said “weapons depots and headquarters used by” Hezbollah were hit in the Qusayr region.

Adraee said the strikes sought to thwart attempts to “transfer weapons from Iran via Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon”.

Syria’s official Sana news agency reported Israeli strikes on Qusayr’s industrial zone and some residential neighbourhoods, saying they caused material damage.

The vast land border between Israel and Syria has increasingly come under attack by Israel since its war with Hezbollah erupted last month.

The main border crossing, known as Masnaa on the Lebanese side, was put out of service by an Israeli strike this month.

A picture taken from the area of Marjeyoun in southern Lebanon shows explosions over buildings in the town of Khiam, during Israeli bombardment on October 31, 2024. Photo / AFP

A second crossing that connects Lebanon to Qusayr was put out of service last week by another Israeli strike.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of bringing weapons in from Syria using the land crossings, which have become a key escape route for thousands of people fleeing the war in Lebanon.

There are six official crossings between Lebanon and Syria, but several illegal routes also exist along the porous border.