A missile strike targets Syrian military positions in the countrysides of Hama and Aleppo provinces on Sunday evening. (State TV photo)

DAMASCUS, April 29 (Xinhua) -- A missile strike targeted Syrian military positions in the countrysides of Hama and Aleppo provinces on Sunday evening, state TV reported.

While not revealing details on who was behind the missile strike, the TV aired a short footage of fire emerging from a site, saying "military sites in the countrysides of Hama and Aleppo have been subject to a new aggression with hostile missiles around 10:30 p.m."

Other reports said the Regiment 47 military base in Hama was targeted, causing big fire and sound of explosions that rocked Hama as the Syrian air defense also responded to the missile strike.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the targeted base contains also Iranian fighters, with other opposition activists in the area hailing the strike against the Syrian military positions in Hama.

Further details about the fresh missile strikes are still forthcoming but the missile strike comes as the Syrian army on Monday stripped the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of areas in the countryside of Deir al-Zour province in eastern Syria.

On April 14, the United States, Britain, and France launched a series of missile strikes on Syrian military positions in Syria in retaliation to an alleged toxic gas attack on the former rebel-held area east of Damascus.

The state TV has been airing interviews with local analysts speaking of how a new aggression is carried out against Syria every time the Syrian army scores progress on the ground, especially now that the Syrian army is closing in on the Islamic State (IS) group in the Hajar al-Aswad area south of Damascus. </s> Syrian government announced that several of its military bases located in the provinces of Hama and Aleppo have come under missile fire, but decline naming the attacker.

According to Syria’s state news agency, “a new aggression with hostile missiles” happened at 10:30 pm local time, in which military positions in the Hama and Aleppo villages were targeted.

The targeted bases were manned by the Syrian army as well as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, and housed several missile warehouses, according to the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar.

There were clearly explosions @ the 47th Brigade base north of the Hama tonight. The site is known for hosting Iranian forces for years now. The base is within range of rebel rockets from northern Homs, but the locals tell me that rebels haven't been able to hit this base before.

The Tishreen Syrian newspaper informed via its Facebook page that the attack was carried out by nine ballistic missiles fired from US and British military bases in northern Jordan. This has yet to be verified or confirmed by any other source at this time. </s> Russia has revealed it warned the US about 'red lines' it should not cross before it launched airstrikes on Syria. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is reported to have said that officials in Washington were contacted before last weekend's strikes by the US, UK and France. Mr Lavrov said: "There were military leadership contacts, between generals, between our representatives and the coalition leadership. 'They were informed about where our red lines are, including red lines on the ground, geographically. And the results show that they did not cross these red lines.'

Russia says it told US where in Syria they could not bomb 2:27

THE Syrian army is reporting new enemy aggression, with missiles targeting missile bases in the north of the country.

“Syria is being exposed to a new aggression with some military bases in rural Hama and Aleppo hit with enemy rockets,” a Syrian army source is reported by state-run media as saying.

Military commentators and Middle East analysts are reporting an attack appears to have been made on the headquarters of the Iran-backed Shiite militia Brigade 47 near the village of Maarin al-Jabal, just south of Hama city. It is said to be used as a recruitment and training facility.

It was also believed to house a weapons depot, which would account for the intensity of the blast.

A second explosion has been reported at the Iranian-backed Brigade 80 headquarters situated north of Aleppo city.

Media outlets with connections to the Syrian regime are claiming 38 soldiers have been killed and 57 injured in the attacks.

The cause of the blasts remains unclear. Reports of Israeli involvement remain speculation, while some Syrian Democtratic Force rebels have claimed responsibility.

Syrian state media reported that authorities were work to “determine the cause of the explosions.”

“A new attack with missiles targeted military positions in the provinces of Hama and Aleppo,” respectively in the centre and north of the country, the Assad-government official news agency SANA reported, citing a military source.

The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights monitor confirmed the firing of missiles, also confirming that “Iranian elements” were stationed at two of the targeted bases.

The Observatory could not immediately say whether there were any casualties, nor who was responsible for the missile strikes.

Yesterday, Israel’s Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said he reserved the right to strike all over Syria against any threats. He said he would not be deterred if Russia supplies the Syrians with advanced S-300 air defence systems.

“We will keep our freedom of operation in all of Syria. We have no intention to attack Russia or to interfere in domestic Syrian issues. But if somebody thinks that it is possible to launch missiles or to attack Israel or even our aircraft, no doubt we will respond and we will respond very forcefully,” Liberman said.

He added that Israel “will prevent Iran from establishing a forward base in Syria at any cost.”

The report came amid heightened tensions in Syria after Damascus and its ally Iran accused Israel on April 9 of conducting deadly strikes against a military base in the centre of the country.

Several days later, on April 14, the United States, France and Britain carried out strikes against several of the Syrian regime’s military positions, in response to a suspected chemical attack on the rebel stronghold of Douma, which caused dozens of deaths, according to rescue services.

In the April 9 attack, at least 14 soldiers, including seven Iranians, were killed in the strike on a military base in central Homs

Syrian government forces at the weekend briefly captured four villages east of the Euphrates River in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour after rare clashes with US-backed Kurdish-led fighters before losing the area in a counter-offensive by the Kurdish-led force.

It’s the same region in which US and Russian forces clashed in February.

The area close to the border with Iraq has been the site of ongoing clashes between the two sides who had been focusing on fighting the Islamic State group. The Islamic State had declared its caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq. Crossings into the east bank of the Euphrates in eastern Syria by government forces have been rare.

State news agency SANA said the villages were held by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, adding that they are close to the provincial capital, also called Deir el-Zour. The SDF said in a statement later that it regained control of the whole area it earlier lost.

Much of Deir el-Zour province was held by the Islamic State group but over the past year Syrian government forces captured most areas west of the Euphrates while SDF fighters took areas east of the river.

On February 7, pro-Syrian government fighters attacked SDF positions east of the river and faced a ferocious US counter-attack that left dozens, including Russians, dead.

SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel said in a statement earlier yesterday that the Syrian army attack coincided with “our forces’ preparations to complete the Island Storm campaign” to liberate the remaining areas east of the river from Islamic State. Gabriel said the Syrian army and pro-government fighters began targeting SDF fighters to impede “the launching of our campaign against terrorism. Our forces are responding in self-defence.”

“We affirm that we are determined to eradicate terrorism from its roots and to assert our right to self-defence,” Gabriel said about Islamic State. “We consider this aggression by regime forces to be a support for terrorism and falls within the attempts to impede the war on terrorism.”

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said yesterday’s offensive left six SDF fighters dead and 22 wounded adding that there were also casualties on the government side.

Gabriel issued another statement later saying all the area lost earlier was regained by SDF fighters. He said Syrian troops were backed by Russian fighters adding that after the SDF’s counter-offensive, government forces “are now far away.” </s> Speaking to Tasnim on Monday, the commander said the corps’ military base near Syria’s northwestern city of Aleppo is safe and none of his forces have been martyred in any attack, as claimed by some media outlets.

The Syrian army said on Sunday that rockets had struck several military bases in the Hama and Aleppo countryside. In a news flash, state television said the missile attacks took place at 10:30 p.m.

“Syria is being exposed to a new aggression with some military bases in rural Hama and Aleppo hit with enemy rockets,” an army source was quoted as saying without elaborating.

Meanwhile, The Times of Israel said the blasts occurred in a base belonging to the Syrian army’s 47th Brigade that is allegedly used by Iran-backed fighters.

The report said the facility was used as an arms depot, which accounted for the size and intensity of the blast that could be seen from kilometers away and reportedly registered on seismographs in the area.

In another report, Reuters quoted an unnamed intelligence source as saying that it appeared that multiple missile strikes hit several command centers for Iranian-backed forces and there were dozens of injuries and deaths. </s> Syrian state media have reported several explosions over Syria’s port city of Latakia on Monday night

According to local reports the large scale missile attack came from the Mediterranean sea

Syrian air defenses have reportedly been engaging missiles targeting the city, which is is also the home of Russia’s Khmeimim Air Base.

Update: A Large number of missiles have been hitting several Syrian provinces

The missiles reportedly also struck the cities of Baniyas, Tartous, and Homs.

The attack comes just hours after Russia and Turkey negotiated a partial demilitarization of the Idlib province, which is the last remaining stronghold of anti-government terrorists, including the Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, better known as the Jabhat Al-Nusra.

RT reports: According to the state SANA news agency, the attack targeted the Technical Industries Agency headquarters in Latakia, owned by the Syrian military. Reports from the area refer to “powerful explosions” heard in the city. According to Syrian military sources, the strikes also targeted a power station and an aluminum factory.

The attack began around 10 pm local time. Photos posted on social media show tracers and missile plumes streaking across the night sky above Latakia, as well as several explosions.

Air defense activity was also reported in Homs and Tartous provinces, where Russia maintains a naval base.

Syrian media report that a “number of missiles” have been shot down. Multiple reports from the area speak of an attack by missiles launched from drones. It is unclear whether only the Syrian air defense batteries have been engaged, or if the Russian air defenses around Khmeimim are taking part as well.

Seven people were injured in the attacks, Ahmad Kazem of the Syrian Human Rights Network told RIA Novosti.

Multiple local reports have accused Israel of launching the strikes, but there has been no independent confirmation of that. Another possibility suggested by local media is that the drone attack came from the jihadists in Idlib. SANA reported the missiles targeting Latakia came “from the sea,” citing military sources. </s> After Syria announced that several of its military bases located in the provinces of Hama and Aleppo had come under missile fire, reports by some media outlets suggested that the missile attack had targeted what they called Iranian military bases and that Iranians were killed as a result.

However, an informed source, speaking to Tasnim on Monday, denied such reports.

Earlier, the commander of the Fatemiyoun Corps, an all-Afghan unit involved in the fight against Takfiri terrorist groups in Syria, also denied reports of a missile attack on the corps’ base near Aleppo.

The Syrian army said on Sunday that rockets had struck several military bases in the Hama and Aleppo countryside. In a news flash, state television said the missile attacks took place at 10:30 p.m.

“Syria is being exposed to a new aggression with some military bases in rural Hama and Aleppo hit with enemy rockets,” an army source was quoted as saying without elaborating.

Meanwhile, The Times of Israel said the blasts occurred in a base belonging to the Syrian army’s 47th Brigade that is allegedly used by Iran-backed fighters.

The report said the facility was used as an arms depot, which accounted for the size and intensity of the blast that could be seen from kilometers away and reportedly registered on seismographs in the area.

In another report, Reuters quoted an unnamed intelligence source as saying that it appeared that multiple missile strikes hit several command centers for Iranian-backed forces and there were dozens of injuries and deaths.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups currently controlling parts of it.

According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.

In the meantime, Iran has remained a close ally of Syria and supports its legitimate government in the face of foreign-backed militancy. </s> A number of Syrian military bases in Hama and Aleppo were struck by “hostile missiles” fired by an identified enemy on Sunday night, Syrian state media reported.

 

 At least 26 troops loyal to Assad’s regime, mostly Iranians, were killed in the attack, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based war monitor, said.

 

 A weapons cache storing surface-to-surface missiles in northern Syria was targeted by during the air attack, which has been blamed on Israel, the SOHR said. 

 

 A salvo of nine ballistic missiles were fired by British and US forces from northern Jordan, Tishreen, a Syrian newspaper with close links to Assad, has claimed.

 

 But the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has dismissed allegations the RAF took part in the missile attack at around 10.30pm local time (8.30 GMT) on Sunday.

“Nothing has been launched by the RAF,” a spokesman told Daily Star Online.

 

 Britain does provide military training and support to Jordan’s air force in the fight against ISIS but there are no official RAF bases in the country.

 

 Military aircraft monitors said an RAF aerial refuelling tanker was spotted flying near north-west Syria just hours after the missile attack.

 

 The Airbus KC2 Voyager was tracked flying north-eastwards across the eastern Mediterranean after departing RAF Akrotiri, a large British military base on the island of Cyprus.

“Nothing has been launched by the RAF” “The Voyager was probably assisting RAF or other coalition jets operating there,” Yörük Işık, a Bosphorus-based military aircraft and naval observer told Daily Star Online.

 

 “It’s unknown if it was directly related to last night but there is increased activity over Syrian skies.”

 

 The US military is yet to comment on claims it was involved in the strike. 

 

 The stike comes just days after Britain, France and the US carried out bombing attacks on suspected chemical weapons facilities across Syria.

US President Donald Trump ordered the strikes in response to an alleged lethal chemical attack on rebels and civilians on Douma, Eastern Ghouta, on April 7.

 

 UK Prime Minister Theresa May supported the US by providing RAF planes without asking MPS for permission to do so.

 

 Sunday’s strike on military bases in Hama and Aleppo appears to have been carried out by Israel, according to Russian, Syrian and Iranian media reports.

 

 Israel is yet to comment on the accusations, which come amid an escalating war of words with Iran.

Tehran has sent thousands of Iran-backed fighters to back Assad’s forces in the country’s seven-year civil war.

 

 A missile attack on Syria’s T4 air base in central province of Homs earlier this month was blamed on Israel. Shortly after Sunday's missile strike, a 2.6 magnitude earthquake was recorded in the area, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said. 

 

 “Some military sites in the countryside of Hama and Aleppo provinces were exposed at 10.30pm to a new aggression with hostile rockets,” a military source told Syrian Arab News Agency.

 

 No Iranians had been killed in the latest missile attacks, Iran's Tasnim news agency said on Monday.

 

 "All these reports over attack on an Iranian military base in Syria and the martyrdom of several Iranian military advisers in Syria are baseless," an official told Iran’s Tasnim news agency. </s> BEIRUT — Missile strikes on Syrian government bases overnight killed dozens of pro-regime forces, raising the risks of a wider regional war just weeks after Israel was blamed for hitting an air station in the country used by Iranian elite forces.

“Enemy missiles” targeted military bases in Aleppo and Hama, Syrian state news agency SANA reported Monday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 27 people, most of them Iranians, were killed in Hama. There were no immediate details about casualties in Aleppo.

Footage circulated on social media showed a large fireball, purportedly from an explosion at a military base in Hama believed to house Iranian Revolutionary Guards forces. The base in Aleppo is also widely thought to be used by Iranian forces and allied militias.

Syrian media close to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said photos from the site revealed Israel as being behind the attack, purportedly using GBU-39 bombs fired by F-35 jet fighters. Israeli military declined to comment, in line with a policy of neither confirming nor denying strikes in Syria.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

How bad is the labor shortage? Cities will pay you to move there.

Weapons training likely causes brain injury in troops, study finds. </s> Syrian air defenses have engaged missiles targeting the area of Latakia, a city in the coastal province that is the home of Russia’s Khmeimim Air Base. Seven people were reportedly injured in the attack.

According to the state SANA news agency, the attack targeted the Technical Industries Agency headquarters in Latakia, owned by the Syrian military. Reports from the area refer to “powerful explosions” heard in the city. According to Syrian military sources, the strikes also targeted a power station and an aluminum factory.

The attack began around 10 pm local time. Photos posted on social media show tracers and missile plumes streaking across the night sky above Latakia, as well as several explosions.

Air defense activity was also reported in Homs and Tartous provinces, where Russia maintains a naval base.

Syrian media report that a “number of missiles” have been shot down. Multiple reports from the area speak of an attack by missiles launched from drones. It is unclear whether only the Syrian air defense batteries have been engaged, or if the Russian air defenses around Khmeimim are taking part as well.

Seven people were injured in the attacks, Ahmad Kazem of the Syrian Human Rights Network told RIA Novosti.

Multiple local reports have accused Israel of launching the strikes, but there has been no independent confirmation of that. Another possibility suggested by local media is that the drone attack came from the jihadists in Idlib. SANA reported the missiles targeting Latakia came “from the sea,” citing military sources.

The attack comes just hours after Russia and Turkey negotiated a partial demilitarization of the Idlib province, which is the last remaining stronghold of anti-government militants, including the Al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (also known as the Jabhat Al-Nusra).

to RT newsletter to get stories the mainstream media won’t tell you.
Syrian state media, Syrian Arab News Agency, reports missile strikes have targeted military sites in the Hama Governorate and Aleppo Governorate. It is unclear who carried out the strikes.