2 die as Israeli jets strike Syria chemical site

Damascus, Sept. 7: Syria’s Army accused Israeli warplanes of hitting one of its positions on Thursday, killing two people in an attack that a monitor said targeted a site where the regime allegedly produces chemical weapons.

The site near the Syrian town of Masyaf, between the central city of Hama and a port used by the Russian navy, is reportedly used by forces from Syria’s allies Iran and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.

Israel has previously carried out strikes believed to be targeting the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah, which fought a deadly war with the Jewish state in 2006.

Thursday’s strike hit a training camp and a branch of the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), an institution that Washington and former Israeli officials accuse of helping develop the sarin gas used in a deadly attack on the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhun in April.

President Bashar alAssad’s government has blasted such accusations as “fabrications,” and Syria’s army on Thursday did not mention the SSRC in its statement

The site near the Syrian town of Masyaf was used by forces from Syria’s allies Iran and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah

on the Israeli strikes.” Israeli warplanes at 2.42 am on Thursday fired a number of missiles from Lebanese air space, targeting one of our military positions near Masyaf, which led to material damage and the deaths of two members of the site,” the statement said.

“Syria’s Army warns of the serious repercussions of such acts of aggression on the security and stability of the region,” it added. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group confirmed that the strikes hit the SSRC, though it could not confirm what weaponry is produced there. It said Hezbollah fighters and Iranian military personnel were known to use the site at Masyaf.

“There are Iranian experts using the research centre there. Hezbollah also uses the facility,” said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. — AFP