AMMAN/CAIRO, Sept 8 (Askume) – Israeli air strikes overnight killed 16 people and wounded dozens in western Syria, Syrian state media said on Monday, the most serious Israeli attack reported by Syrian authorities since an assault on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus in April.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, which usually remains silent on reports of attacks in Syria.
Syria’s state news agency SANA, citing military sources, said Israel launched the attack at around 11:20 am (GMT) on Sunday, targeting “several military locations in the central region”, but details of the attack remained unclear.
The sources said Syrian air defence forces shot down some of the missiles. SANA quoted local health officials as saying a total of 36 people were injured, six of them seriously.
A major military research centre for chemical weapons production near Masyaf in the Mediterranean coast province of Hama has been attacked multiple times, two regional intelligence sources said. They said it is believed to house a team of Iranian military experts involved in weapons production.
However, a senior regional military source near Damascus and Tehran denied it was a chemical weapons facility and said the target was a major Syrian research facility.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack, calling it a serious act of aggression. SANA reported that in addition to killing 16 people and wounding 36, it “caused damage to some residential areas.”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Tehran strongly condemns the “criminal attack” in Syria.
“We do not confirm reports from media affiliated with the Zionist regime (Israel) that Iranian facilities or Iranian-owned facilities were attacked,” he said at a press conference in response to a question about the attack.
Syrian state media also reported that the attack caused fires in two locations and that firefighters were working to extinguish the blaze.
Israel has for years targeted Iranian or Iranian-backed targets in Syria, where Iranian troops and Tehran-backed militias have been widely deployed in support of President Bashar Assad during the Syrian civil war.
Iran has stepped up its operations since the Hamas-led attack on Israel from Gaza on October 7 , including an April 1 attack on the Iranian embassy compound that killed high-ranking officials, including a top Tehran general.
