War monitor says 3 killed in Israel strike on Syria weapons depots

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three people were killed Thursday in Israeli strikes on Syria's Qusayr region near the border with Lebanon, where Israel said it hit Hezbollah weapons depots.

The Britain-based war monitor said three strikes targeted the town of Qusayr, where Hezbollah holds sway, and surrounding areas.

One strike targeted "a weapons depot and a fuel storage facility for Hezbollah in the industrial city of Qusayr", killing three and wounding five others, the Observatory said.

The other strikes targeted warehouses near the Lebanese border and a bridge south of Qusayr, according to the war monitor.

The Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said "weapons depots and headquarters used by" Hezbollah were hit in the Qusayr region.

Adraee said the strikes sought to thwart attempts to "transfer weapons from Iran via Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon".

The official SANA news agency reported Israeli strikes on Qusayr's industrial zone and some residential neighbourhoods, saying they caused material damage.

The vast land border between Israel and Syria has increasingly come under attack by Israel since its war with Hezbollah erupted last month.

The main land border, known as Masnaa on the Lebanese side, was put out of service by an Israeli strike this month.

A second crossing that connects Lebanon to Qusayr was put out of service last week by another Israeli strike.

Israel accuses Hezbollah of transferring weapons in from Syria using the land crossings which have become a key escape route for thousands of people in Lebanon fleeing the war.

There are six official crossings between Lebanon and Syria but several other illegal routes exist along the porous border.