5 wounded, at least 2 dead after Israeli air strike near Homs: Syria state media

In a 2020 photo, smoke rises after an air strike in Saraqeb in Idlib province, Syria. PHOTO: REUTERS

DAMASCUS – Five Syrian soldiers were wounded in an Israeli air strike near the western city of Homs early on Sunday, Syria’s state news agency Sana said.

The incident also claimed the lives of two members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, reported Reuters.

The strike was Israel’s third in recent days after Damascus was targeted on Thursday night and Friday night, according to the agency.

“Today, at around 12.35am (local time), the Israeli enemy carried out an air assault from north-east of Beirut targeting positions in the city of Homs and its province,” Sana reported on Sunday, citing a military source.

Syria’s air defence intercepted several missiles, but five soldiers were wounded and some material damage was reported, the source added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a Britain-based war monitor, said the strikes targeted several military positions of Syrian government forces and pro-Iran groups in Homs.

The non-governmental organisation said explosions rocked the city and a fire broke out in a research centre, with ambulances heading to the scene of the attack.

SOHR director Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP that in addition to the five wounded Syrian soldiers, several Iranian-affiliated fighters in the research centre had been killed in the strikes.

Iran says its officers serve in an advisory role in Syria at the invitation of Damascus.

Reuters, citing the Iranian semi-official Mehr news agency, on Sunday said that military adviser Milad Haydari was killed on Friday, while another officer, Mr Meqdad Mehghani, had also died of his injuries.

Israel conducted seven air strikes in Syria last month, according to the SOHR, which has an extensive network of sources in the country.

While Israel rarely comments on the strikes it carries out on Syria, it has repeatedly said it will not allow its arch-foe Iran to extend its footprint in the war-torn country.

In February, an Israeli air strike killed 15 people in a Damascus district that houses state security agencies, the SOHR said at the time.

More than a week ago, an Israeli missile strike destroyed a suspected arms depot used by Iran-backed militias at Syria’s Aleppo airport, the war monitor said.

On March 7, three people were killed in an Israeli strike on the same airport that put it out of service. It reopened three days later.

The Syrian war broke out in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful anti-government protests, and escalated into a deadly armed conflict that pulled in foreign powers and global jihadists.

Some 500,000 people have been killed and around half of Syria’s pre-war population have been forced from their homes. AFP

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