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Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
At least five people were killed on Sunday after Israel launched multiple airstrikes on Syria’s Hama countryside, Syrian state media reported.
Israel claimed to have targeted a military research centre in the vicinity of the city of Misyaf, injuring at least 13 people, several critically.
Syrian air defences “confronted an aggression that targeted several points in the central region”, SANA news agency reported.
The attack reportedly damaged a highway in Hama province and sparked fires that firefighting teams were battling to control early Monday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor based in the UK, said the number of deaths from the Israeli airstrike stood at seven, including three civilians.
“Thirteen violent explosions rang out in the zone housing scientific research centres in Masyaf where pro-Iranian groups and weapons development experts are present,” the group said in a statement.
Since the 7 October attack by Hamas, Israel has escalated its strikes on Iranian-backed militia targets in Syria and struck its army air defences and some Syrian forces.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes inside Syria in recent years, but has rarely acknowledged or discussed the operations.
“The enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of northwest Lebanon, targeting a number of military sites in the central region” shortly before 8.30pm local time, the Syrian news agency quoted a military source as saying.
“Our air defence shot down some missiles.”
Two regional intelligence sources said a major military research centre for chemical arms production located near Misyaf was hit several times.
Syria’s state media also reported that the strikes caused two fires, which firefighters were working to extinguish.
In the most high-profile attack on Syria since the war in Gaza began, suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran’s embassy in April, a strike that Iran said killed seven military advisers, including three senior commanders.
Israel has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria, particularly since the country is a key route for Iran to send weapons to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
