More than a dozen people have been killed and many others wounded in an Israeli airstrike on Syria, the state-run Sana news agency has reported.
Israeli warplanes attacked several targets near the city of Masyaf in the country’s western-central Hama Governorate late on Sunday, a military source told the agency.
Some of the missiles, which had been fired by jets from Lebanese airspace, were shot down by Syrian air defenses, the source added.
The strikes damaged the main road between Masyaf and the town of Wadi al-Uyun and caused a major blaze in another area, Sana cited the source as saying.
The reported death toll has risen steadily in the hours since the airstrike. On Monday morning, the director of Masyaf National Hospital, Dr. Faisal Haidar, told the agency that the number of dead had reached 14, with 43 others wounded, including six in a critical condition.
Sana has also published photos appearing to show wounded people on hospital beds and a fire in a wooded area.
The Times of Israel claimed that the targeted area had been used as a base by Iranian forces and pro-Iranian militias. It hosts the Scientific Studies and Research Center (CERS or SSRC), which Israel believes is used by Tehran to produce precision surface-to-surface missiles, the newspaper added.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which has a policy of not discussing its operations outside the country, has not commented on the attack.
In early April, what is thought to be an Israeli airstrike destroyed Iran’s consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus, killing seven officers from Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, including two high-ranking generals. Tehran retaliated a few weeks later by launching a massive missile and drone barrage against Israeli military facilities.
Israel has repeatedly struck Syrian territory since the outbreak of the civil war in the neighboring country in 2011, with the aim of reducing the presence of its arch-rival Iran. Tehran – together with Moscow – is assisting Damascus in its fight against terrorist groups.
During his previous tenure as Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged at one point that “hundreds” of such attacks had taken place over the years.
The Syrian authorities have condemned the Israeli attacks and have raised the issue at the UN, insisting that the airstrikes violate the country’s sovereignty and international law.