https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-new ... -1.6036336Syria war: Missile strikes on military sites 'kill pro-Assad fighters'
Missile strikes on military sites in northern Syria overnight
reportedly killed a number of pro-government fighters, including Iranians.
The Syrian military said facilities in Hama and Aleppo provinces were struck.
It did not say if there were any casualties.
But a UK-based monitoring group said four Syrians and 22 foreigners, mostly Iranians, died.
It is not known who was behind the attacks.
Western nations and Israel have previously hit sites in Syria.
A Syrian military source cited by the official Sana news agency said only
that the sites targeted on Sunday night were "exposed… to a new aggression".
The source added that the strikes came after terrorist organisations had suffered defeats
in the countryside of the capital, Damascus,
an apparent reference to the recent recapture
of the Eastern Ghouta region from rebel groups.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR),
a UK-based monitoring group,
said one strike appeared to have targeted a depot for surface-to-surface missiles
at the 47th Brigade military base, south of the city of Hama.
The pro-opposition Orient News website also reported
that large explosions were seen coming from
what were believed to be ammunition caches at the base.
Missiles are also reported to have hit locations in the Salhab area, west of Hama city,
and the area surrounding Nairab military airport,
which is close to the city of Aleppo and its international airport.
The SOHR cited its sources as saying 26 pro-government fighters were killed in the missile strikes,
most of them Iranians.
It added that the death toll might rise as 60 fighters were wounded,
some of them seriously, and that others were missing.
An official from a regional alliance that includes Iran and Hezbollah told the New York Times
that the strike on the 47th Brigade base destroyed 200 missiles and killed 16 people,
including 11 Iranians.
Iran's semi-official Fars news agency cited its sources as saying
that the missiles struck weapons depots in southern Hama and an area north of Aleppo's airport,
but they denied that Iranian military advisers were killed.
Syria Strike Was So Powerful, It Registered as an Earthquake
European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre confirms blasts caused 2.6-magnitude earthquake in Hama area
Apr 30, 2018 12:15 PM
Sunday’s rocket strikes on two of President Bashar Assad’s military bases registered
as a 2.6-magnitude earthquake in the Hama area,
the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said.
The attack apparently targeted major arms caches,
including surface-to-surface missiles that Iran seeks to deploy in Syria,
according to assessments.
Last week,
reports said that U.S. and Israeli spy agencies have been watching movements of Iranian arms to Syria,
and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that Israel will not allow Iran
to set up positions and bases in Syria from which to fire missiles.
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