Israel strikes ‘Syria military airport’

WASHINGTON — Israel carried out air strikes against a Syrian air base early Monday morning and informed the U.S. in advance, two U.S. officials told NBC News.

The pre-dawn missile attack came hours after a deadly suspected poison gas attack on the last remaining foothold for rebels fighting the Assad regime.

Israel strikes ‘Syria military airport’ 

A war-monitoring group said the overnight airstrikes killed 14 people, according to the Associated Press.

Russia's Defense Ministry said two Israeli aircraft targeted the T4 air base in Homs province, firing eight missiles. It said Syria shot down five missiles while the other three landed in the western part of the base. Israel's foreign ministry had no comment when the AP asked about the reports.

Since 2012, Israel has struck inside Syria more than 100 times, mostly targeting suspected weapons' convoys destined for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has been fighting alongside Syrian government forces.

Most recently, Israel hit the same T4 base in February, after it said an Iranian drone that had violated Israeli airspace took off from the base. The base, which was used as a launching pad for counter offensive attacks against Islamic State militants who were at one point stationed close by, is near the Shayrat air base, which was targeted by U.S. missiles last year in response to a chemical weapons attack.


Fourteen fighters were killed in the early-morning strike on Syrian government air base, including Iranian troops: monitoring group

Syria accused Israel on Monday of carrying out deadly bombing raids on a military air base in the country's centre, state news agency SANA reported.
"The Israeli attack on the T-4 airport was carried out with F-15 aircraft that fired several missiles from above Lebanese territory," SANA said, citing a military source.

US, France deny strikes

Both the US and France denied the air strikes on Syrian military targets, which had reportedly killed Iranians.

Several US officials said on Sunday there was no truth to reports that the US military had launched air strikes against a Syrian government air base.

The US denial followed a report by Syrian state television of loud explosions heard near the T-4 airfield in the Syrian city of Homs in the early hours of Monday that was believed to have been targeted in a suspected US missile strike.

14 killed

Fourteen fighters, including allied Iranian forces, were killed in the early-morning strike on a Syrian government air base, said a monitoring group on Monday.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says most of the 14 killed were either Iranians or members of Iran-backed groups.
The Observatory says it wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the attack.

"At least 14 fighters were killed in the strike on the T-4 airport, among them Iranian forces," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor.
Syrian state media had earlier reported dead and wounded, without giving casualty figures.