Israel said to strike Iran-backed militia base in southern Syria

Syrian state media said Israel fired a missile early Wednesday at a site in the Quneitra province in southern Syria, near the border with Israel’s Golan Heights.

The official SANA news agency said the midnight attack hit a school building in the village of Al-Harah, without providing further details.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The Israel Defense Forces would not comment on the matter, in line with its so-called “policy of ambiguity” regarding its military activities against Iran and its proxies in Syria.

Israel has repeatedly accused the Hezbollah terror group and other Iran-backed militias of setting up bases and operating along the Golan border.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights — a pro-opposition group with unclear funding sources — said the strike hit a base for pro-Iran militias, adding that Israel was “likely” responsible.

Reports of the strike came two weeks after Israeli soldiers reportedly destroyed two Syrian military posts in the demilitarized zone separating the two countries in a rare cross-border raid.

That raid was said to be a warning to Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose forces are encroaching on the Golan Heights.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011. It has targeted government troops, allied Iranian forces, and fighters from the Lebanese Shiite terror group, Hezbollah.

It rarely confirms details of its operations in the country, but says Iran’s presence in support of Assad and Hezbollah is a threat and that it will continue its strikes.