Explosions Reportedly Heard At Area Thought To House Iranian Facility

Report: Explosions heard at Iranian facility near Damascus

Explosions reportedly rocked an area thought to house an Iranian facility near Damascus early Monday morning, according to a report in Sky News Arabia.

There was no immediate confirmation of the explosion and it was not clear what may have caused the blasts, which came days after another mysterious explosion at a Syrian base.

Sky News said locals reported hearing explosions in the area of Najjah, a neighborhood south of Damascus which houses a military academy.

According to the report, the blasts are thought to have occurred at an Iranian electronic warfare facility there.

There was no immediate word from Syria, which was said to be on the verge of pushing the last pockets of Islamic State resistance out of southern Damascus on Monday.

Israel has increasingly taken aim at Iranian facilities in southern Syria over recent months as it attempts to keep Tehran from gaining a military foothold on its doorstep.

The sorties, which Israel rarely admit to openly, have led to increased tensions in the border region and earlier this month sparked a barrage of 20 missiles at northern Israel, drawing a massive Israeli reprisal attack.

The explosions were reported after mysterious blasts tore through weapons and fuel depots on Friday at a military airport in Syria’s Hama province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, killing at least 28 people.

Syrian state media reported the blasts at the time but did not provide any details, while the Observatory had said they were likely due to a technical malfunction.

However, the Sky News Arabia outlet reported that the explosions were caused by an attack on an advanced Iranian air defense system, despite it coming in the middle of the day, when Israel rarely carries out airstrikes.

After maintaining an official policy of refusing to comment on such strikes, the Israeli military last week revealed that it had been conducting air raids against Iranian targets in Syria as part of a mission dubbed “Operation Chess.”

The purpose of “Operation Chess” was to prevent Iran from carrying out reprisals for an Israeli airstrike against the Iranian-controlled T-4 air base in central Syria on April 9, which killed at least seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including a senior officer responsible for its drone program.