Two dead and three injured after Israeli missiles hit Syrian air base in Homs

Israeli missiles hit a major air base in Syria’s Homs province on Sunday, killing two soldiers and injuring three others.

Israeli missiles hit a major air base in Syria’s Homs province (representative image)

By ReutersIsraeli missiles hit a major air base in Syria’s Homs province on Sunday, killing two soldiers and injuring three others, the Syrian army said through state news agency SANA.

Military sources said the air base, near Shayrat, was recently used by the Iranian air force.

Syrian state media posted a short video of the “aggression” and said there was material damage, without elaborate.

A military source, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said the attacks targeted a runway at the sprawling air base located southeast of the city of Homs.

Asked about the strike, an Israeli military spokesman said it did not comment on foreign reports.

The airstrip and underground facilities in Shayrat, including aircraft shelters, have undergone major expansion by the Russian military over the past three years, the military source said.

Russia, which has a large military presence in Syria, has stationed troops near Shayrat Air Force Base and is using the base, security sources say.

Regional and intelligence sources say Israel has intensified attacks on Syrian airports and airbases in recent months to disrupt Iran’s increasing use of air supply lines to supply weapons to allies in Syria and Lebanon, including Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors such events, said a warehouse for Iranian militias and Hezbollah at Shayrat airbase was destroyed during Sunday’s strike.

Opposition military sources say Iranian militias hold sway over much of the western province of Homs near the Lebanese border and to the east, where they have a series of bases.

Iran, which has deployed thousands of its Shia militias to help Syrian President Bashar al Assad win his fight against insurgents, says its military presence in Syria is limited to a limited number of advisers.

Israel has been carrying out attacks in Syria for years against what it has described as Iran-Iran-backed forces deployed there during the war, which began more than a decade ago.

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