‘ Israel strike’ on Syria air base kills 14

■ Fighters from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah group have big presence at site of attack

Beirut, April 9: An earlymorning strike on a Syrian government air base in the country’s centre killed 14 fighters, including Iranian forces allied to the regime, a monitoring group said on Monday.

“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 Britainbased war monitor.

Syrian state media had earlier reported dead and wounded in the strike, without giving casualty figures. The T- 4 base lies in Syria’s central Homs province and is also known as the Tiyas airport.

Forces from regime allies Russia and Iran, as well as fighters from the Tehranbacked Lebanese Hezbollah militia, are known to have a presence there, said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman. The Observatory, which has a wide network of sources across war- ravaged Syria, said it could not confirm who carried out the attack on the T- 4 base.

Israel carried out strikes against a Syrian government base in the country’s centre in February, with the Observatory identifying it at the time as T- 4.

Israel has struck targets inside Syria on multiple occasions throughout the country’s seven- year war, including those linked to Iran and Hezbollah or to Assad’s chemical weapons programme. An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Monday denounced the suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of people in Syria over the weekend as a “barbaric act,” and said he will make a decision in the next 24 to 48 hours about whether to retaliate militarily as he did to a similar assault last year.

— AFP A photograph released by the Syrian Arab News Agency early on Monday shows relatives reuniting after buses carrying the first batch of detainees, whom the agency said were released by Jaish al- Islam after being held hostage in the Eastern Ghouta town...