Syria claims IDF attacked targets overnight, 6 foreigners killed

“The strikes left six people dead of non-Syrian nationalities. It is not yet known whether they were members of [the Iranian] Revolutionary Guards or pro-Iranian militiamen,” says Syrian human rights organization.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency reported missile strikes Friday, claiming they were carried out by the Israel Air Force.

“At exactly 12:40 after midnight today, the Israeli enemy launched an aggression by directing a burst of missiles from the north of the Lebanese city of Tripoli towards the Masyaf area in the western Hama region, and our air defense media intercepted the enemy missiles and dropped most of them,” a Syrian military source told SANA.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) issued a statement saying it documented human and material losses as a result of the strikes on Syrian territory.

“Israeli missiles coming from over Lebanese territory have destroyed warehouses and manufacturing centers for short- and medium-range missiles belonging to Iranian militias in the scientific research area, the ‘Defense Factories,’ within the area of Al-Zawiya in Masyaf countryside,” the organization reported, adding that two other sites in the area were hit as well.

“The strikes left six people dead of non-Syrian nationalities. It is not yet known whether they were members of [the Iranian] Revolutionary Guards or pro-Iranian militiamen,” the SOHR reported, adding they expected the death toll to rise.

The organization noted that the area hit has “a center for developing medium-range missiles” and that an airstrike earlier this year in the same area also attributed to Israel caused “heavy human and material losses.”

Israel has a longstanding policy of not allowing Iran or Iran-backed terror groups like Hezbollah to establish military infrastructure that would threaten Israel, but generally does not comment on foreign reports that claim Israel is the source of attacks on Syria.

However, Israel has publicly acknowledged several recent air strikes against Syrian military targets after Syria violated the ceasefire agreement the two countries signed following the 1973 Yom Kipur War.