MORNING (SW) – At least 18 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes on a number of military sites in central Syria, the Syrian health minister says.
State news agency Sana cited Hassan al-Ghabbash as saying another 37 people were injured in the attacks in the vicinity of Masyaf, in Hama province, on Sunday night.
A UK-based monitoring group reported that 26 people were killed and that the targets included a scientific research center near Masyaf that was used to develop weapons, reported BBC.
The Israeli military said it would not comment on foreign media reports of the strikes, which Syria’s foreign ministry condemned as “blatant aggression” and Iran’s foreign ministry called a “criminal attack”.
Sana’s report cited a Syrian military source as saying that Israeli aircraft flying over north-western Lebanon launched missiles at “a number of military sites in the central region” at around 23:20 (20:20 GMT) on Sunday.
“Our air defence shot down some missiles,” the military source added.
The news agency said the strikes also caused damage to the Masyaf-Wadi al-Oyoun highway and that a fire broke out in the forested Hair Abbas area.
Later, the Syrian foreign ministry said the attack had targeted “several residential areas”, while local authorities reported that key infrastructure had been damaged, including a fiber optic cable running underneath the highway and a high-voltage power line, according to Sana.
State-run Al-Ikhbariya al-Suriyah TV also broadcast footage purportedly showing a damaged building in the port city of Tartous, west of Masyaf.
In April, Iran accused Israel of carrying out an air strike on a consulate building in Damascus which killed two senior Revolutionary Guards commanders.
Iran retaliated by carrying out its first direct military attack against Israel. It launched 300 missiles and drones, but almost all of them were shot down by Israeli and US-led forces.
