Syria Struck by Deadly Israeli Air Raid: 18 Dead, 37 Wounded 

United States: Syrian health minister says at least 18 people killed in Israeli air strikes that targeted several military positions in central Syria. 

Citing Hassan al-Ghabbash, Sana said 37 more people were wounded in the attacks in the region near Masyaf in Hama province on Sunday night. 

A UK based monitoring group said that 26 people were killed and the targets included a scientific research centre near Masyaf that was used to develop the weapons. 

As reported by BBC, the Israeli military said it would not at all comment on foreign media reports of the strikes, which Syria’s foreign ministry described as “blatant aggression” and Iran’s as a “criminal attack”. Still, Israel has said in the past it has conducted hundreds of air raids in recent years on Iranian-related targets in Syria – Israel’s chief nemesis – and allied militia. 

The Israeli strikes have been said to have increased since the war in Gaza began in October last year in reprisal for raids on northern Israel by Hezbollah and other militants operating in Lebanon and Ssana’s report quoted a Syrian military source as saying that Israeli aircrafts overflying north-western Lebanon fired missiles at “some military targets in the central area” on Sunday at 23:20 (20:20 GMT). 

‘Our air defence intercepted some of the missiles,’ the military source further said. 

The news agency has also reported that those air strikes damaged the Masyaf-Wadi al-Oyoun highway; and noted that a fire in the forested Hair Abbas area. 

After the attack, the Syrian foreign ministry stated that the attack focused on “several residential areas”, while the local authorities stated that the vital facilities were destroyed, including the fibre optic cable that runs under the highway and the high-voltage power line, as per Sana. 

State-run AI-Ikhariya al-Suriyah TV also broad cast the footage purportedly showing a damaged building in the port city of the Tartous west of Masyaf. 

The Syrian Observatory for the Human rights a UK based monitoring group with a. network of the sources on the ground and reported that Israeli strikes destroyed buildings in the port city of Tartous west of Masyaf. 

The Syrian Observatory for the Human Rights a UK based monitoring group with a network of the sources on the ground and also reported that Israeli strikes destroyed building and the military facilities in the research area and on the highway and the high-voltage power line according to Sana. 

So it is like , at least 26 people were killed which also includes members of Syrian government forces and the 14 Syrians working with the pro-Iran groups and another three bodies were unidentified, it added.