BEIRUT, Feb 25, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - An Israeli strike on a truck in Syria near the Lebanese border killed two Hezbollah members at dawn on Sunday, a war monitor said.

"Israel struck a civilian truck with a missile near the Syrian-Lebanese border," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a report.

The strike led to "the death of at least two Hezbollah members", said the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources in Syria.

Hezbollah later announced in separate statements that two of its fighters were "martyred on the road to Jerusalem", the phrase it uses to refer to members killed by Israeli fire.

A source close to Hezbollah confirmed that both were killed this morning in Syria.

Syrian state media did not report the strike.

Since Syria's civil war began in 2011 following an uprising against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in Syria, primarily against pro-Iran forces, among them Hezbollah and the Syrian army.

The strikes have multiplied amidst the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

An Israeli strike on a Damascus residential neighbourhood on Wednesday killed three Iran-backed fighters, a Syrian and two foreigners, according to the Observatory.

On February 10, the Observatory reported an Israeli strike on a building west of Damascus that killed three people from pro-Iran militias.

Since the start of the war in Gaza on October 7, Hezbollah has announced the death of 16 members killed by Israeli strikes in Syria.

The Israeli military announced on February 3 that it had "attacked, from the ground and air, more than 50 such targets of Hezbollah spread throughout Syria".

Israel rarely comments on individual strikes but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in Syria.