Israel Targets Pro-Regime Groups in Syria’s Aleppo

Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
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Israel Targets Pro-Regime Groups in Syria’s Aleppo

Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki
Missile fire is seen from Damascus, Syria May 10, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

Syrian air defenses shot down Israeli missile over the northern province of Aleppo on Monday, state media reported, in an attack that a war monitor said targeted positions of pro-regime groups.

"At around 23:37 on Monday... the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial attack towards southeast Aleppo, targeting positions in the Al-Safira area," Syrian state news agency SANA cited a military source as saying.

"Our air defenses intercepted the missiles... shooting down most of them," it added, saying the extent of damage was still being assessed.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missiles landed near the Scientific Studies Research Center in Al-Safira, destroying bases and a weapons depot used by pro-Iran groups.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, it said.

Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has routinely carried out raids in Syria, mostly targeting Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces as well as Syrian government troops.



Syria Defense Minister Rejects Kurdish Proposal to Remain Distinct Military Bloc

Fighters from the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army faction ride in a "technical" pickup truck at a position near the Tishrin Dam in the vicinity of Manbij, in the east of Syria's northern Aleppo province, on January 10, 2025 amidst ongoing battles with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP)
Fighters from the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army faction ride in a "technical" pickup truck at a position near the Tishrin Dam in the vicinity of Manbij, in the east of Syria's northern Aleppo province, on January 10, 2025 amidst ongoing battles with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP)
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Syria Defense Minister Rejects Kurdish Proposal to Remain Distinct Military Bloc

Fighters from the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army faction ride in a "technical" pickup truck at a position near the Tishrin Dam in the vicinity of Manbij, in the east of Syria's northern Aleppo province, on January 10, 2025 amidst ongoing battles with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP)
Fighters from the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army faction ride in a "technical" pickup truck at a position near the Tishrin Dam in the vicinity of Manbij, in the east of Syria's northern Aleppo province, on January 10, 2025 amidst ongoing battles with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP)

Syria's new defense minister said on Sunday it would not be right for US-backed Kurdish fighters based in the country's northeast to retain their own bloc within the broader integrated Syrian armed forces.
Speaking to Reuters at the defense ministry in Damascus, Murhaf Abu Qasra said the head of the Kurdish fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, was procrastinating in its handling of the complex issue.