Israeli missiles have killed at least 18 people in central Syria, and dozens have been wounded, the health minister says.
A military source told the state-controlled SANA news agency that “at around 23:20 [20:20 GMT] on Sunday evening, the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of northwestern Lebanon, targeting a number of military sites in the central region [of Syria].”
“Our air defence systems confronted the aggression’s missiles and shot down some of them,” the source added, without providing further details.
Speaking to reporters, Syrian Health Minister Hassan al-Ghabbash described the strikes as a “brutal and barbaric aggression”. He said 18 people were killed and nearly 40 people were wounded.
Minister of Electricity Mohammad al-Zamel said the strikes had also caused “truly significant” damage to water and electricity infrastructure.
“This brutal attack targeted civilian targets, and the martyrs were mostly civilians as were the wounded,” he said.
The attack on Sunday night also sparked a fire and caused damage near the city of Masyaf in Hama province, according to SANA.
Two regional intelligence sources said a major military research centre for chemical arms production located near Masyaf had been hit several times, Reuters reported. A team of Iranian military experts involved in weapons production was believed to be working at the site, the news agency added.
Local media also reported strikes around the coastal city of Tartous.
On Monday afternoon, a charred car remained at the scene of one strike and smoke was still rising from some spots where fires had been put out.
The Israeli military commonly does not comment on its operations in Syria.
‘Harsh punishment’
Israeli jets have often launched attacks against Syria from Lebanon, likely in a bid to avoid Syrian airspace, where multiple regional and international forces, including those of Russia and the United States, operate.
Throughout Syria’s 13-year war, Israel has regularly carried out air raids in the country, mostly targeting Iran-linked sites.
Sunday’s attack comes amid growing regional tensions with Iranian officials still pledging to respond to the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.
Iran, which maintains a military presence in Syria, had promised “harsh punishment” for Israel, but no Iranian attack has materialised more than 40 days after the assassination.
Last week, Mohsen Chizari, a top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, said Iran’s response is coming “in due time”.
Iran launched a direct attack on Israel with hundreds of drones and missiles in April in response to the Israeli bombing of an Iranian diplomatic facility in Damascus.
Israeli and US air defences in the region helped shoot down most of the projectiles, minimising the damage of the attack.
Separately, Hezbollah carried out its own attack against Israel on August 25, responding to the killing of one of its top commanders in an Israeli air raid in Beirut that also killed several civilians.
Israel said it thwarted the operation with a preemptive attack, but the Iran-aligned Lebanese group said it successfully hit an Israeli military intelligence site near Tel Aviv.
Cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel have continued on a near daily basis. Hezbollah says it is targeting military sites in northern Israel and Syria’s occupied Golan Heights in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where the ongoing Israeli war has killed more than 40,900 people.
The Lebanese group has promised to continue its military operations until the war on Gaza ends while Israeli officials have promised to push Hezbollah away from the country’s northern border, including by all-out war if necessary.
