Bus drivers to being strike action over pay

Russia and the Syrian military have blamed Israel for a pre-dawn missile attack on a major air base in central Syria that reportedly killed 14 people, including Iranians.

Russia’s defence ministry said two Israeli aircraft targeted the T4 air base in Homs province, firing eight missiles.

It said Syria shot down five of them while the other three landed in the western part of the base.

Syrian state TV quoted an unnamed military official as saying that Israeli F-15 warplanes fired several missiles at T4. It gave no further details.

Israel’s foreign ministry had no comment when asked about the air strikes, which did not appear to be related to Saturday night’s alleged chemical weapons attack in which 40 people are thought to have died.

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. An all-out strike is set to begin tomorrow, after bus drivers voted against a deal to resolve a pay dispute with their employer, First Aberdeen.

The bus company said the move was “very concerning” and added that it would need to “digest the result”.

Strike action was suspended last week after the deal emerged from talks involving conciliation service Acas. But 58 per cent of drivers yesterday voted against the offer.

Willie Wallace, spokesman for Unite, said: “The union members have spoken. And they have said loud and clear that they are not prepared to accept the current proposals from First. The company has to recognise that and get back round the negotiating table and make an improved offer.”

First Aberdeen operations director David Phillips said: “This agreement was reached with the Unite the Union representatives via the Acas collective conciliation talks, where management were extremely transparent about the precarious financial position that the company finds itself in. During these talks, we were absolutely clear that this was the best and final offer on the table despite the current reality of the situation facing the business in the city.

“The company will now need to take some time to digest this result and to weigh up the next steps.”