More than 40 people killed in Israeli strikes on Syria’s Aleppo: Reports

Attacks have escalated amid continuing war in Gaza and clashes with Hezbollah across Israel-Lebanon border.

Israeli air strikes on Syria’s northern province of Aleppo have killed more than 40 people, most of them soldiers, according to news agencies and a war monitor.

The fatalities included six members of Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group confirmed on Telegram.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) put the death toll at 42 and said dozens of people were injured. The Reuters news agency reported that 38 people were killed.

The attacks about 1:45am on Friday (22:45 GMT on Thursday) targeted several areas in Aleppo’s countryside, Syria’s Ministry of Defence said. It did not provide casualty figures, only saying a number of civilians and military personnel were killed and property was damaged after Israel and unnamed armed groups carried out the strikes, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.

The SOHR, an opposition war monitor, said in posts on X that Israeli strikes hit a weapons depot near Aleppo International Airport, resulting in a series of large explosions.

At least 36 Syrian soldiers were killed, it said, adding that Hezbollah weapons depots were located in the area.