BEIRUT – At least nine pro-regime fighters died in a suspected Israelimissile strike overnight in northern Syria, a monitor said Monday.
Syrian state media had accused Israel of bombing a military position inAleppo province late Sunday, in what would be a rare Israeli strike so farnorth in the war-ravaged country.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, saidthe base was being used by the Syrian regime’s arch-ally Iran.
“The Israeli missiles targeted an Iranian Revolutionary Guard centre, nearthe Neirab military airport,” said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
He said those killed included at least six Syrians, but could not specifythe nationalities of the remaining fighters.
The position is a logistics hub used to provide equipment and food topro-regime forces fighting at nearby fronts, but it did not store weapons,Abdel Rahman said.
Tehran has dispatched military forces to bolster Syrian President Basharal-Assad’s efforts to crush a seven-year uprising against his rule. Assadhas said the forces are advisors but denied the presence of Iranianfighters on Syrian territory.
Late Sunday, state news agency SANA said Israeli missiles had hit near astrategic air base, but said there were no casualties.
“The Zionist enemy… targeted with its missiles one of our militarypositions north of the Neirab military airport, but the damage was onlymaterial,” it said, citing a military source.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the reports. The attack is thethird suspected Israeli strike on Syria this month alone.
Damascus accused its arch-enemy of striking a military position in centralSyria on July 8 and Israel said it had hit three military posts in thecountry a few days later.
Suspected Israeli strikes usually hit army positions near Damascus and inthe central provinces of Homs and Hama, but have rarely struck as far northas Aleppo.
Israel has repeatedly warned it will not tolerate an entrenched presence ofits archfoe Iran in neighbouring Syria.
In May, it carried out an unprecedented wave of strikes against what itsaid were dozens of Iranian military targets in Syria.
Israel has been on high alert in recent weeks as Assad’s forces fight toretake parts of southern Syria bordering the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
After taking a majority of the key province of Daraa, government troops arewaging an offensive on the adjacent province of Quneitra which remainsmostly in rebel hands.
They began heavily bombing the area early on Sunday morning and air strikescontinued there on Monday, according to the Observatory. – APP/AFP