DAMASCUS: On Monday, Syrian state news agency SANA reported that there have been deadly bombing raids on the military airbase in the country’s center. Syria had earlier accused the US and later blamed it on Israel for carrying out the attacks.
SANA reported, “The Israeli attack on the T-4 airport was carried out with F-15 aircraft that fired several missiles from above Lebanese territory.” It reported that several missiles had hit T-4, which lies in central Syria and is also known as the Tiyas air base.
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It did not mention the exact numbers of casualties but said that the attack had left many dead and wounded. A military spokesperson of Israel had declined the accusation for the same.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 14 fighters had been killed including at least three Syrian officers and Iranian officers. Observatory chief said, ” Forces from regime backers Russia and Iran, as well as fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, are known to have a presence at the base.”
Earlier, Israel had accused Iranian forces at the T-4 of sending a drone into Israel territory. After bombing Iranian units in Syria in retaliation, an Israel F-16 was shot down by Syrian anti-aircraft fire in one of the conflict’s most notable escalations. Israel then carried out large-scale raids on Syrian air-defense systems and Iranian targets including T-4.
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Before this, The Russian media had also reported that Russian army had accused Israel of carrying out deadly missile strikes on a Syria military airbase from Lebanon.
The Russian defence ministry said, ” Two F-15 planes of the Israeli army hit the airbase between 03:25 am and 03:53 am Moscow time (0025 GMT and 0053 GMT) with the help of eight missiles controlled remotely from Lebanese territory, without entering Syrian airspace.”