Iranian military adviser killed in Syria in Israeli attack, Iran's news agency SNN reports

Tehran's influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that started in 2011.

 Smoke rises after airstrikes on a rebel-held part of the southern city of Deraa, Syria, June 15, 2017 (illustrative). (photo credit: REUTERS/ALAA AL-FAQIR)
Smoke rises after airstrikes on a rebel-held part of the southern city of Deraa, Syria, June 15, 2017 (illustrative).
(photo credit: REUTERS/ALAA AL-FAQIR)

An Iranian Revolutionary Guards adviser was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Syria on Sunday, according to Iran's semi-official news agency SNN on Monday.

SNN identified the officer as Saeid Abyar without giving his rank.

Earlier on Monday, Syrian state media said, citing a military source that a number of people were killed in an Israeli air attack targeting sites in the vicinity of the Syrian city of Aleppo on Monday. This is the second reported attack on the country in less than a week.

The strikes at around 12:20 a.m. (2120 GMT on Sunday) "led to a number of fatalities and some material damage," the source said without elaborating.

Israel allegedly launched air attacks on May 29 on Syria's central region as well as the coastal city of Baniyas, killing a child and injuring ten civilians, according to Syrian state media.

Iran-linked targets in Syria

For years, Israel has been carrying out attacks against what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran's influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war that started in 2011.

In April, Iran retaliated by firing missiles at Israel after a presumed Israeli strike that destroyed a building in Iran's embassy compound in Damascus and killed several Iranian officers including a top general.