Azure pipeline npm build failing for React: Unexpected token

I have been stuck at this for a while now and similar issues don't seem to help.

In Azure DevOps, the pipeline fails at the npm build level with an error in one of the indirect dependency (check line 18 below). The error is jest-worker/build/index.js:110 _ending; SyntaxError: Unexpected token ";"

.

The pipeline.yaml is this:

trigger:
- master

pool:
  vmImage: ubuntu-latest

steps:
- task: NodeTool@0
  inputs:
    versionSpec: '10.x'
  displayName: 'Install Node.js'

- script: |
    npm install
  displayName: 'npm install '

- script: |
    npm run build
  displayName: 'npm run build'
  
- task: ArchiveFiles@2
  inputs:
    rootFolderOrFile: 'build'
    includeRootFolder: true
    archiveType: 'zip'
    archiveFile: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/$(Build.BuildId).zip'
    replaceExistingArchive: true

- task: PublishBuildArtifacts@1
  inputs:
    PathtoPublish: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
    ArtifactName: 'drop'
    publishLocation: 'Container'