Syria accuses Israel of ‘state terrorism’ for alleged strikes

Syria on Tuesday accused Israel of committing “state terrorism” after alleged Israeli airstrikes a day earlier killed 15 people, including six civilians.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group, at least a dozen Iranian-linked targets were hit in the strikes, two near Homs and 10 of them near Damascus, including a base where Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces are headquartered and a weapons research center.

One of the pro-regime fighters killed was Syrian, while the rest were of other nationalities, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

“Israeli authorities are increasingly practicing state terrorism,” Syria’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the official SANA news agency.

“The latest heinous Israeli aggression falls within the framework of ongoing Israeli attempts to prolong the crisis in Syria,” it added.

In the predawn hours of Monday morning, Syria accused Israel of conducting a series of air- and sea-based attacks on military facilities throughout the country.

Israel did not comment on the attack — one of the most extensive series of strikes in several months, coming less than a week after a trilateral summit in Jerusalem with Russia and the United States concerning Tehran’s activities and military presence in the region.

Syria’s foreign ministry filed a complaint with the United Nations Security Council over the attack, demanding accountability, according to SANA.

It said Israel’s “dangerous and hostile” actions would not have been possible without the support of its ally the United States.

A private Israeli intelligence firm on Monday identified one of the sites in Syria targeted in the alleged Israeli airstrike as a hangar likely storing advanced weaponry or other military equipment.

Satellite photo of one of the sites hit in an alleged Israeli airstrike on Iranian sites in Syria on July 1, 2019. (ImageSat International)

ImageSat International, a satellite imagery analysis firm, released a photograph of one of the targets, a hangar located at the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) in Jamraya, outside Damascus.

According to ImageSat, the building was “probably used for storage of advanced weapon systems or another sensitive element.”

The Hezbollah terror group and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp have been said to maintain a presence at the Jamraya facility.

The US has repeatedly imposed sanctions on the SSRC for its alleged role in chemical weapons production. France has also imposed sanctions on the agency.

Israeli airstrikes reportedly hit the facility in May 2013 and again in February 2018.

The Israeli military has acknowledged carrying out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria in recent years, on targets linked to Iran, which is backing President Bashar Assad’s regime in the Syrian civil war.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.