The death toll from Israeli shelling yesterday Wednesday in three zones in the ancient city of Palmyra, in the central Syrian desert, rose to 68 deadaccording to the latest report by the NGO Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

According to MKO, among the dead are 42 pro-Iranian Syrian fighters and 26 foreigners, mostly Iraqi members of the Shiite organization al-Nujaba, but also four members of the Lebanese Hezbollah.

In recent weeks Israel, which is at war in Lebanon with the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, has intensified its bombing of Syrian territory. The Lebanese movement supports the Damascus regime.

According to the same source, the death toll is expected to rise, as several injured are in serious or critical condition.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, among the targets hit in an industrial zone of Palmyra was an ammunition depot.

For its part, SANA reported that many buildings suffered extensive damage.

Israel’s military has made no comment at this stage.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned “in the strongest possible way the Israeli barbaric attack against the city of Palmyra”, which is part of “the ongoing crimes of Zionism against the countries of the region and their peoples”.

Palmyra is home to UNESCO World Heritage archaeological sites that attracted thousands of foreign tourists before the Syrian war broke out in 2011, which has become extremely complicated over the years. The city was captured by the jihadists and the archaeological site was looted and damaged during the height of Islamic State (IS) power in 2015, before being driven out in 2017. It was one of the worst disasters to Syrian heritage.

Since Israel shifted the center of gravity of the war to Lebanon on September 23, its bombing of Syrian territory has increased even more. Israeli strikes, almost all from the air, have numbered in the hundreds since 2011. This year alone, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, there have been at least 152.

The Israeli political and military leadership rarely publicly comments on its operations in Syria on a case-by-case basis, but regularly declares that it will not allow Iran and movements close to it, such as the Lebanese Hezbollah in particular, to expand their presence and influence in the neighboring country.