Israeli airstrike on Syria kills 14 people Media

The attack reportedly targeted Hama province.

More than a dozen people were killed and many others injured in an Israeli air strike on Syria, the state news agency Sana reported.

A military source told the agency that Israeli warplanes attacked several targets near the city of Masyaf in the central-western province of Hama late Sunday.

Some of the missiles fired by jets from Lebanese airspace were shot down by Syrian air defenses, the source added.

The attacks damaged the main road between Masyaf and the town of Wadi al-Uyun and caused a major fire in another area, Sana quoted the source as saying.

The death toll has risen steadily in the hours since the airstrike. On Monday morning, Masyaf National Hospital director Dr. Faisal Haidar told the agency that the death toll had reached 14 and 43 others were injured, including six in critical condition.

Sana also published photos that apparently show injured people on hospital beds and a fire in a forest area.

The Times of Israel claimed that the target area was used as a base by Iranian forces and pro-Iranian militias. It is home to the Center for Scientific Studies and Research (CERS or SSRC), which Israel believes is used by Tehran to produce precise surface-to-surface missiles, the newspaper added.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which generally does not discuss its operations outside the country, did not comment on the attack.

In early April, a suspected Israeli airstrike destroyed the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus, killing seven officers of the Quds Force of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including two high-ranking generals. Tehran retaliated a few weeks later with a massive rocket and drone attack on Israeli military facilities.

Israel has repeatedly attacked Syrian territory since the civil war broke out in its neighbouring country in 2011, with the aim of reducing the presence of its arch-rival Iran. Tehran, together with Moscow, supports Damascus in the fight against terrorist groups.

During his previous tenure as Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu once acknowledged that there had been “hundreds” of such attacks over the years.

Syrian authorities have condemned the Israeli strikes and raised the issue at the United Nations, insisting that the airstrikes violate the country's sovereignty and international law.

(RT.com)