<p>Israeli air strikes in Syria targeting the pro-Damascus Lebanese Hezbollah group and Syrian air defence forces killed one Syrian soldier and wounded five others, a war monitor said Wednesday.</p>.<p>The air raids early Wednesday hit positions in a rural area northwest of the capital, said the Britain-based war monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.</p>.<p>Syrian state news agency SANA, citing a military source, said one Syrian soldier was killed and three others wounded in an Israeli strike on a military position near the capital.</p>.<p>"Today at 01:30 (2230 GMT) the Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression with missile bursts from northern Galilee, targeting a unit of our air defence forces in the Nabi Habeel area," the military source said.</p>.<p>"Our air defence countered some of the missiles, which caused one martyr and wounded three soldiers."</p>.<p>The Observatory on Wednesday morning said the number of wounded had risen to five, two of them in grave condition.</p>.<p>The strikes targeted Hezbollah rocket and ammunition depots in a mountainous area near the town of Zabadani close to the Lebanese border, destroying them and causing casualties, it said, without providing a toll.</p>.<p>Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said pro-Iran groups use the heights around Zabadani to store weapons and ammunition.</p>.<p>"Hezbollah uses (the area) as a storage spot before transporting weapons and ammunition into Lebanon," he said.</p>.<p>Israel refused to confirm or deny the strike.</p>.<p>"We do not comment on foreign media reports," an army spokesperson told AFP.</p>.<p>Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011.</p>.<p>It has targeted government troops, allied Iranian forces and Hezbollah fighters.</p>.<p>It rarely confirms details of its operations in Syria, but says Iran's presence in support of President Bashar al-Assad is a threat to which it will continue to respond.</p>.<p>In the night of Thursday to Friday last week, Israeli missile strikes on Syria killed at least six Iran-backed fighters in the Masyaf district of Hama province, the Observatory said.</p>.<p>One of the missiles, which were fired from Lebanese airspace, also targeted a government-run research centre where surface-to-surface missiles are developed and stored, the Britain-based watchdog said.</p>.<p>Repeated Israeli air strikes against positions of Hezbollah and other pro-Iran groups in Syria in November killed more than 50 Tehran-backed fighters, most of them non-Syrian.</p>.<p>Syria's war has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced millions since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.</p>
<p>Israeli air strikes in Syria targeting the pro-Damascus Lebanese Hezbollah group and Syrian air defence forces killed one Syrian soldier and wounded five others, a war monitor said Wednesday.</p>.<p>The air raids early Wednesday hit positions in a rural area northwest of the capital, said the Britain-based war monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.</p>.<p>Syrian state news agency SANA, citing a military source, said one Syrian soldier was killed and three others wounded in an Israeli strike on a military position near the capital.</p>.<p>"Today at 01:30 (2230 GMT) the Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression with missile bursts from northern Galilee, targeting a unit of our air defence forces in the Nabi Habeel area," the military source said.</p>.<p>"Our air defence countered some of the missiles, which caused one martyr and wounded three soldiers."</p>.<p>The Observatory on Wednesday morning said the number of wounded had risen to five, two of them in grave condition.</p>.<p>The strikes targeted Hezbollah rocket and ammunition depots in a mountainous area near the town of Zabadani close to the Lebanese border, destroying them and causing casualties, it said, without providing a toll.</p>.<p>Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said pro-Iran groups use the heights around Zabadani to store weapons and ammunition.</p>.<p>"Hezbollah uses (the area) as a storage spot before transporting weapons and ammunition into Lebanon," he said.</p>.<p>Israel refused to confirm or deny the strike.</p>.<p>"We do not comment on foreign media reports," an army spokesperson told AFP.</p>.<p>Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011.</p>.<p>It has targeted government troops, allied Iranian forces and Hezbollah fighters.</p>.<p>It rarely confirms details of its operations in Syria, but says Iran's presence in support of President Bashar al-Assad is a threat to which it will continue to respond.</p>.<p>In the night of Thursday to Friday last week, Israeli missile strikes on Syria killed at least six Iran-backed fighters in the Masyaf district of Hama province, the Observatory said.</p>.<p>One of the missiles, which were fired from Lebanese airspace, also targeted a government-run research centre where surface-to-surface missiles are developed and stored, the Britain-based watchdog said.</p>.<p>Repeated Israeli air strikes against positions of Hezbollah and other pro-Iran groups in Syria in November killed more than 50 Tehran-backed fighters, most of them non-Syrian.</p>.<p>Syria's war has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced millions since starting in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.</p>