Airstrikes in Syria killed at least 18 people and injured dozens of others, Syria’s state news media and an independent organisation reported on Monday. Syria’s official news agency, quoting a military source, blamed Israel and reported that the strikes had targeted military sites in the central region.
In what appeared to be one of the deadliest waves of attacks in Syria in months, the Syrian state-run news agency, Sana, said that 37 people had been injured in the strikes near the city of Masyaf, including six who were in critical condition.
Israel’s military declined to comment on the strikes.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that tracks the war in Syria, said on Monday that strikes had hit the area of a scientific research institute in Masyaf. Work on “developing short- and medium-range precision missiles” is conducted at the institute, the group reported, citing unnamed sources in the Syrian security forces.
The group said that 25 people had been killed in strikes in Masyaf and other areas in the province of Hama, including Syrian combatants, people working with Iranian militias and civilians. It was not possible to confirm the report independently.
In the past, Israel has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of assaults on targets in Syria that it says are linked to Iran. A series of airstrikes in March near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo killed at least 44 people, including 36 Syrian soldiers and seven members of Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militia backed by Iran, the observatory said.
The government in Tehran supports and arms a network of proxy militias that have been fighting with Israel, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthi militia in Yemen.
Israel and Iran have for decades fought a clandestine war, but attacks across borders have escalated since Israel’s military offensive in Gaza began in response to last October’s Hamas-led attack.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations.
The strikes often target Syrian forces or Iranian-backed groups.
New York Times News Service
