Several are killed after Israeli air strike targets Syria's Aleppo

A number of people were killed in an Israeli air attack targeting sites in the vicinity of the Syrian city of Aleppo, Syrian regime media has said citing a military source, 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.

However, international monitoring groups said at least 12 pro-Iranian militants of Syrian and foreign nationalities were killed in an Israeli air strike on a position in the town of Hayyan.

Israel 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 regime media.

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 the Syrian regime leader 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.