BEIRUT: Iranian media said an adviser was killed in an early Monday Israeli strike on Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, which a war monitor said killed 16 members of pro-Iran groups.

“During last night’s attack by the Zionist regime on Aleppo, Saeed Abyar, one of the IRGC advisers in Syria, was martyred,” said Iran’s Tasnim news agency, referring to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Earlier the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said: “The death toll of the Israeli strike on a factory in Hayyan in western Aleppo province has risen to 16 pro-Iran group members, including Syrian and foreign fighters.”

The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, initially reported 12 dead.

It said pro-Iran groups comprising local and foreign fighters have considerable influence in government-controlled Hayyan.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on its northern neighbour since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters including from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.