Israeli strike kills 3 pro-Iran fighters in Syria

BEIRUT — Three Iran-backed paramilitary fighters were killed in an overnight Israeli strike that hit Syria's southern province of Quneitra, a war monitor claimed Wednesday.

The three were from the Syrian Resistance to Liberate the Golan, a group linked to the Lebanese Hizbollah movement, said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The group was formed more than six years ago to launch attacks in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

At least one of the killed fighters was Syrian, the observatory said, but the nationalities of the other two remained unclear.

The official SANA news agency reported the Israeli strike on a "school" in Quneitra's northern countryside shortly after midnight, but did not mention casualties.

Along with Russia, Israel's nemesis Iran has been a key backer of Damascus in its nine-year-long civil war.

Israel has carried out hundreds of air and missile strikes on Syria since the civil war broke out in 2011, allegedly targeting Iranian and Lebanese Hizbollah forces as well as government troops.