At least 10 Syrian soldiers were killed and nine wounded in a missile attack on the bus in which they were traveling, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on 13 May.

The attack took place in the governorate of Aleppo, in northwestern Syria.

An armed group fired an anti-tank missile at a bus carrying government soldiers between the towns of Nubl and Al Zahra in the same administrative district, SOHR chairman Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

The attacks, which were attributed without specifications to “opposition factions”, caused the death of about ten Shia soldiers. However, the SOHR has warned that the number could increase in the coming hours due to those wounded and in serious condition.

According to the observatory, the identity of the factions that launched the missile are not clear, as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly al-Nusra) controls most of the area where other opposition factions are located.

This has been the deadliest attack against Syrian government forces so far this year.

Syria has been besieged by a foreign-backed war since March 2011. The Damascus government says the Israeli government and its western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri armed groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.

Syria’s state-run news agency SANA reported on 11 May that Israeli forces launched a missile strike at Qunietra in the south of the country.

According to military sources, the attack occurred near the town of Hader in the occupied Golan Heights. The source reported no casualties as a result of the attack, only material damages.

The frequency of Israeli attacks in Syria has increased in recent years.

Prior to the strike in Qunietra, Israel’s last attack was on 27 April, when Israeli forces fired several missiles into the outskirts of Damascus, killing four members of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and injuring three others.

In response to the strike, Syria’s foreign ministry sent a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, saying Damascus has the right to respond to Israeli, Turkish, and US attacks on its people and territory.