image Photo: Flash90

Deadly IDF strike alleged in Syria

Damascus  has accused Jerusalem of launching missile strikes on the Syrian Armed Forces (SAF) Tiyas military airport in the eastern countryside of the Homs Governorate.

By Erin Viner

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that 2 Damascus-allied foreign fighters were killed in the Friday attack on a drone depot at the base.

The Tiyas airport, also known as “T-4,” is the largest airbase in the Arab Republic.

The official SANA news agency cited a SAF source who said that “the Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression from the direction of the military area of Al-Tanf with bursts of missiles towards the T-4 military airport in the central region” and that SAF air defenses had intercepted most of the incoming missiles. The SANA report also claimed that only “wounded 6 soldiers and led to some material damage” had been sustained in the attack.

There were also reports of other missile strikes on Iranian-controlled infrastructure in the Eastern Syrian border region near the triangular border with Iraq and Jordan, near the town of al-Bukamal.

Analysts believe substantial damage was sustained at all the targeted sites, which included Iranian-operated weapons caches and other infrastructure that served as a training-hub for proxies operating in the region.

The IDF has declined TV7’s request for comment on the allegations.  The Israeli military has launched hundreds of strikes against Iran-linked military targets in Syria and weapons convoys en route to Hezbollah over the years, but rarely acknowledges the operations publicly. Jerusalem leadership has repeatedly declared that Iranian entrenchment just over Israel’s northern frontier will not be tolerated.

It is important to highlight that the aerial strike took place less than 12 hours before Iranian Foreign Ministry Hossein Amir-Abdollahian travelled from Beirut to Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on ways to further bolster bilateral cooperation on matters of mutual interest.