Three Hezbollah Members Perish in Israeli Drone Attack in Syria

In a recent development, an Israeli drone strike in southern Syria led to the deaths of three Hezbollah members and one Syrian national, as reported by a war monitoring group.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, informed AFP that the incident occurred in Madinat al-Baath town, located in the Quneitra province near the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. The victims were part of a unit involved in surveillance and missile-launching activities and were traveling in a rented vehicle at the time of the strike.

Hezbollah later acknowledged the loss of three of its members, referring to their deaths as “on the path to Jerusalem,” a term it commonly uses for members killed in conflicts with Israel in southern Lebanon. This phrase was also used previously to commemorate seven fighters who died in an Israeli strike in Syria on November 10, which Israel stated was a countermeasure to a drone attack on the southern Israeli city of Eilat.

On Thursday, the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources within Syria, noted that Israel had launched eight missile strikes near Damascus and attacked a Syrian military post in Quneitra, though these strikes did not result in any casualties.

These actions were reportedly in response to attacks on the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

Additionally, the Observatory reported that on December 2, an Israeli airstrike in the vicinity of Damascus resulted in the deaths of two Syrian Hezbollah fighters and two officers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

The Revolutionary Guards’ official news agency, Sepah News, confirmed the deaths of two of its members on an “advisory mission” in Syria, without specifying the exact location or timing of their demise.

Israel has been actively conducting airstrikes in Syria since the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011, targeting Syrian army positions and groups aligned with Iran, such as Hezbollah. These operations have escalated since the outbreak of conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip on October 7, initiated by Hamas’ major assault on southern Israel.

On November 8, the Observatory reported that an Israeli strike near Damascus had killed three Hezbollah fighters.

While Israel seldom comments on its operations in Syria, it has expressed its intention to prevent Iran, its avowed adversary, from gaining a foothold near its borders.