21, including Iranians, said killed in reported IAF strike in Syria

Twenty one people were killed, including nine Iranians, in Thursday night’s attack on the Dabaa military airport in central Syria, Sky News reported on Saturday.

The strike was reportedly aimed at Hezbollah members and militias supporting the Assad regime.

According to reports, six strong explosions, allegedly caused by missile strikes, were heard in the Homs region, near the Lebanese border. Syrian air-defense systems reportedly attempted to intercept the missiles.

The Syrian Al-Marsad human rights organization said that the missile attack was carried out by Israel. On Friday, the Lebanese army announced that a day earlier, five Israeli Air Force planes circled above Lebanese territory for some 15 hours altogether. According to the report, most of the flights took place in the southern and northern regions of Lebanon, but one of the planes was mentioned to have circled above “all regions of the country.” No offensive action or operation was said to have been carried out by the aircraft.

An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment.

In recent months Israel has carried out several air strikes in Syria, targeting Iranian and Iranian-linked targets. Israeli leaders have repeatedly asserted that Jerusalem would not allow Iran to gain a foothold in southern Syria.