Israeli strikes on Syria kill at least 16 people: Syrian state media
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There was no immediate comment from Israel on the strikes, which sources say were targeting a military research centre in Syria.
PHOTO: AFP
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CAIRO - Israeli air strikes killed 16 people in Syria and wounded dozens more overnight, the Syrian state media reported on Sept 9, the deadliest Israeli attack reported by the Syrian authorities since the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus was hit in April.
There was no immediate comment from Israel, which typically remains silent on reports of strikes in Syria.
Syrian state news agency Sana, citing a military source, said Israel launched the strikes around 11.20pm on Sept 8 and targeted “a number of military sites in the central region”, without elaborating on what was struck.
Syrian air defences shot down some of the missiles, the source said. Sana cited a local health official as saying 36 people had been wounded, six of whom were in serious condition.
Two regional intelligence sources said a major military research centre for chemical arms production located near Masyaf, in Syria’s central Hama province near the Mediterranean coast, had been hit several times.
They said it was believed to have housed a team of Iranian military experts involved in weapons production.
However, a senior regional military source close to Damascus and Tehran denied the accounts that it was a chemical weapons facility, saying that the target was a well-known Syrian research facility.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the attack as an act of blatant aggression. In addition to the 16 fatalities and 36 wounded, the attack had caused “material damage to some residential areas”, it said in a statement reported by Sana.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said Tehran strongly condemned the “criminal attack” in Syria.
“We do not confirm what was reported by media outlets linked to the Zionist regime (Israel) about an attack on an Iranian centre or a centre under Iran’s protection,” he said during a news conference, in response to a question about the attack.
The Syrian state media also reported that the strikes caused two fires, which firefighters were working to extinguish.
Israel has for years been targeting what it has described as Iranian or Iran-backed targets in Syria.
Iran is known to have deployed its forces and Tehran-backed militias across Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad during Syria’s civil war.
It has stepped up the campaign since the Oct 7 Hamas-led assault on Israel from Gaza,
