BEIRUT: The death toll in Zionist air strikes on Syria has risen to 52, including 38 government soldiers and seven members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, a war monitor said Saturday. Friday’s strikes fueled concerns of a wider regional conflagration. They targeted “a rocket depot belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah” near the Aleppo airport in northern Syria, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It was the latest deadly raid on Iran-backed forces in Syria, where Hezbollah has been backing the government in its fight against opponents since the 2011 Syria civil war erupted. Zionist strikes on targets in Syria have increased since the Zionist entity’s war against the Hezbollah-allied Hamas group in the Gaza Strip broke out on Oct 7. Zionist raids also regularly target Hezbollah in Lebanon in retaliation for cross-border fire.

Friday’s strikes killed 38 Syrian soldiers, seven Hezbollah members and seven Syrian pro-Iran fighters, the Observatory said, up from a total of 44 according to an earlier toll. The number of Syrian soldiers killed was the highest in Zionist strikes since the war with Hamas broke out, said the war monitor, which relies on a network of sources in Syria.

The Zionist entity rarely comments on individual strikes, and has neither confirmed nor denied the raids on Syria. But the Zionist military has said it killed the deputy head of Hezbollah’s rocket unit in Lebanon, Ali Naim, whose death the Iran-backed group confirmed. Zionist Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on social media that he visited the Zionist entity’s north on Friday “to closely examine another successful termination like the one that was executed this morning”, in Lebanon and Syria.

The Zionist army would keep up its operations against Hezbollah everywhere, he said, adding: “We will make them pay a price for every attack that comes out from Lebanon.” Hezbollah, which has a powerful arsenal of rockets and missiles, has exchanged near-daily fire with the Zionist military since Hamas’ unprecedented October attack on the Zionist entity.

“Syria and Lebanon have become one extended battleground from the (Zionist) perspective,” Riad Kahwaji, head of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, told AFP. “(Zionist) warplanes hit targets in both countries almost daily in a sustained effort to destroy Hezbollah military infrastructure and to also tarnish the group’s image,” he said. “(Zionist) strikes have clearly escalated in size and depth” in Lebanon, he added.

Syria’s foreign ministry condemned the Aleppo raids, which it said killed and wounded “a number of civilians and soldiers”. Damascus allies Russia and Iran also slammed the Zionist strikes. Moscow said they were “categorically unacceptable” while Iran said they were a “violation of Syria’s sovereignty” and “a serious threat to regional and international peace and security”. According to Kahwaji, “Syria is the main supply route linking Iran with Hezbollah in Lebanon”.

“(The Zionist entity) has been hitting this supply line and destroying arms depots and eliminating IRGC leaders in Syria,” he said, referring to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Friday’s strikes were the second on Syria in 24 hours. Syrian state media said “two civilians” were killed in a “(Zionist) air attack that targeted a residential building” on Thursday. The Britain-based Observatory said the target was the Sayyida Zeinab area, a stronghold of pro-Iran armed groups including Hezbollah, south of the capital.

The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people in southern Lebanon and in the Zionist entity’s north, where the military says 10 soldiers and eight others have been killed. Analyst Lina Khatib said “(the Zionist entity) is increasing the pressure on Hezbollah, the Syrian army, and other Iran-backed groups in Syria and in Lebanon, knowing that it is not in their interest to escalate the fight”.

“Hezbollah’s attacks on northern (Zionist entity) are changing (the Zionist entity’s) calculations,” said Khatib, associate fellow with Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa program. The Zionist entity “is likely to further increase its strikes in Syria to significantly weaken the pro-Iran front in both Syria and Lebanon,” she added. – AFP