Syrian air defense batteries opened fire on “hostile Israel missiles” near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Wednesday night, the official news agency SANA reported. The site has been targeted before and is believed to be an Iranian base.
SANA said the airstrike targeted several bases near an industrial zone by the airport and that air defenses had managed to intercept several incoming missiles.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Israeli bombardment hit “ammunition stores belonging to Iranian forces and allied groups, and caused huge explosions.”
A number of residents of Aleppo city told AFP that the attack led to a power cut in the whole city.
Israeli officials made no statement on the reports, but seldom comment on alleged strikes.
The night strikes come at a time of heightened tension between Israel and Syria, following Monday’s decision by the US administration to recognize Israel’s control over the Golan Heights it captured from Syria in 1967. The decision sparked condemnation and protests in Syria.
Israel in recent years has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria against targets linked to Iran, which alongside its proxies and Russia is fighting on behalf of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
#BREAKING: Aftermath of #Israel Air Force airstrike at an rocket manufacturing workshop of #IRGC at Sheikh Najar Industrial Zone in Northeast of #Aleppo International Airport. The SAM systems of #SyriaAir Defense Force at the airport were targeted & kept busy during the strike! pic.twitter.com/wtktlHRMBf— Babak Taghvaee (@BabakTaghvaee) March 27, 2019
Israel has twice before been accused of targeting the Al-Nayrab airbase, adjacent to Aleppo’s international airport in an airstrike last year. Al-Nayrab has in the past been linked with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps militia.
No comments:
Post a Comment