2 Hizbollah fighters among 4 dead in Israel strikes near Damascus — monitor

BEIRUT — Israeli strikes overnight near Damascus killed two Hizbollah fighters and two Syrians working with the Lebanese group, a war monitor said on Monday.

Two Hizbollah sites in the Sayyida Zeinab district south of the capital and "a radar battalion" near the airport were targeted late Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"Two Lebanese Hizbollah fighters and two Syrian guards" working at one of the Iran-backed movement's sites were killed, while three other fighters and three civilians were wounded, added the Britain-based observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

Hizbollah issued statements on Monday announcing the death of two of its fighters, without specifying where or when it happened.

But a source close to Hizbollah, requesting anonymity, told AFP the pair were killed in Syria.

Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its northern neighbour since Syria’s civil war began in 2011, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces including Hizbollah fighters, as well as Syrian army positions.

Earlier the Syrian state news agency SANA, citing a military source, reported that Israel launched an air assault at around 2005 GMT targeting “various points on the outskirts of Damascus”.

“Our anti-aircraft defences shot down some missiles while others caused limited material damage,” it said.

An AFP correspondent reported strong explosions in the Damascus suburbs.

Israel rarely comments on individual strikes targeting Syria, but it has repeatedly said it will not allow arch-foe Iran, which backs Assad, to expand its presence there.

Three Hizbollah fighters and a Syrian were killed on Friday in an Israeli drone strike on their car in southern Syria, the observatory had said.

Damascus’s international airport is currently out of service after successive Israeli strikes targeted the facility.