A blaze in the Masyaf area of Syria’s Hama Province after Israeli strikes, September 8, 2024
UPDATE 1152 GMT:
“Two regional intelligence sources” say that Israeli strikes hit the Scientific Studies Research Center, Assad regime’s main facility for research and development of conventional and chemical weapons, several times.
The sources said the Center, in Masyaf in Hama Province, hosted a team of Iranian military experts involved in weapons production.
Unconfirmed claims say the 14-missile attack killed 25 people: four soldiers and intelligence personnel, 13 Syrians working with pro-Iran groups, and five civilians.
UPDATE 0954 GMT:
Iran has denied that its positions were targeted in last night’s Israeli airstrikes on central Syria.
“We do not confirm reports in the Zionist regime media that they targeted a base supported by Iran,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kan’ani. “We strongly condemn this criminal attack by the Zionist regime on Syrian soil.”
UPDATE 0924 GMT: The toll from Israel’s strikes on Iranian positions in central Syria has been revised to at least 16 people killed and 36 wounded.
Hama Health Director Maher al-Younes said six people are still in critical condition.
UPDATE 0626 GMT:
The director of the National Hospital in Masyaf, Faysal Haydar, says the toll from Israel’s strikes has risen to 14 killed and 43 wounded.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Israeli strikes in central Syria, reportedly on Iranian positions, killed at least five people and wounded 19 on Sunday night.
Syrian State news agency SANA said air defenses “confronted an aggression that targeted several points in the central region”, damaging a highway in the Masyaf area of Hama Province and sparking fires.
An Assad regime military official said “the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of northwest Lebanon, targeting a number of military sites” around 11:20 p.m.
Hospital head Faysal Haydar reported the casualties. SANA gave no detail on their identities.
However, the Masyaf area, west of Hama city, is a base for Iranian forces and pro-Iranian militias. It is also home to the Assad regime’s central facility for conventional and chemical weapons, the Scientific Studies and Research Center, which Israel says is used by Iran to manufacture precision surface-to-surface missiles.
The area has been regularly attacked by Israel amid the mass uprising against the regime from March 2011.
Israel has sought to limit Iranian transfer of missiles and other weapons to Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Putting pressure on Tehran to limit its presence in Syria, the Israelis carried out a series of targeted assassinations of Iranian commanders and officials. However, those strikes were curbed by Iran’s “demonstration” missile and drone attack on Israel in April.
Asked about Monday’s strikes, the Israel Defense Forces issued its standard response that it does not comment “on reports in the foreign media”.
