Syrian state media said on Monday that at least 14 people had died and over 40 had been injured as a result of a series of Israeli attacks that occurred overnight in central Syria.
The attacks, which took place late on Sunday, damaged a roadway and started fires in a number of locations in the province of Hama.
According to official media agencies, Israeli rockets have killed at least sixteen individuals in central Syria.
The official news agency of Syria, SANA, said that the attack on Sunday night resulted in material damage and a fire close to Masyaf in the Hama province. The 14 fatalities that had previously been reported were increased to 36 injured in the most recent update, which was released on Monday afternoon.
A military source told the SANA news agency, “At roughly 23:20 on Sunday evening, the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of northwest Lebanon, targeting a number of military sites in the central region [of Syria].”
The source stated, “Our air defense systems confronted the aggression’s missiles and shot down some of them,” without giving any more information.
Usually, the Israeli military stays silent about its actions in Syria.
According to two local intelligence sources, a significant military research facility for chemical weapons manufacture close to Masyaf has been targeted multiple times, as reported by Reuters.
The news agency said that a group of Iranian military specialists specialized in the manufacture of weapons were rumored to be employed at the location.
According to a local health source cited by SANA, 43 individuals had been hurt during the strikes, several of them seriously.
The victims, according to the head of Masyaf’s public hospital, were civilians. “Severe penalty” Israeli aircraft have frequently attacked Syria from Lebanon, most likely in an effort to avoid Syrian airspace, which is used by a number of regional and international troops, including US and Russian forces.
Over the course of Syria’s 13-year civil war, Israel has conducted frequent airstrikes, primarily on locations associated with Iran.
The strike on Sunday occurs in the midst of escalating regional tensions, as Iranian officials continue to vow to retaliate for the July killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Iran, which has a military presence in Syria, had threatened to “harshly punish” Israel for the killing, but more than 40 days after the assassination, no Iranian action has taken place.
Iran is responding “in due time,” according to remarks made last week by top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Mohsen Chizari.
In reaction to Israel destroying an Iranian diplomatic post in Damascus in April, Iran launched a frontal strike on Israel using hundreds of drones and missiles.
The majority of the missiles were shot down by US and Israeli air defenses in the area, reducing the attack’s damage.
On August 25, Hezbollah launched its own attack on Israel in retaliation for the Israeli airstrike that killed six civilians and one of its top commanders in Beirut.
Israel claimed to have stopped the operation with a preemptive strike, but a Lebanese organization with ties to Iran claimed to have targeted an Israeli military intelligence post close to Tel Aviv.
Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border clashes almost every day. Hezbollah claims that in order to assist the Palestinians in Gaza, where the ongoing Israeli attack has resulted in the deaths of over 40,900 people, it is targeting military locations in northern Israel and the Golan Heights, which Syria has seized.
Israeli officials have pledged to drive Hezbollah from their border, including through all-out war if necessary, while the Lebanese group has committed to continuing its armed operations until the end of the conflict in Gaza.
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