ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran’s Tasnim news agency said on Monday that reports of Iran’s base in Syria being hit by rockets were baseless and no Iranians had been killed in the attacks on several military bases in the Hama and Aleppo countryside.

“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 unnamed source told Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency. </s> Iran denies reports of rockets hitting its military base in Syria, Killing Iranians

Iran’s Tasnim news agency said on Monday that reports of Iran’s base in Syria being hit by rockets were baseless and no Iranians had been killed in the attacks on several military bases in the Hama and Aleppo countryside, Reuters reports.

“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 unnamed source told Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Follow Trend on Telegram. Only most interesting and important news </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> 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> The Syrian military said facilities in Hama and Aleppo provinces were struck, causing large explosions.

​With no one claiming responsibility for the strikes, there is speculation in Israel that its military was responsible.

The Syrian army has blamed only "aggression" by its enemies.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said no Iranian base had been hit or Iranians killed.

The missile strikes came as President Bashar al-Assad met a senior Iranian member of parliament on Monday.

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who heads Iran's parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, said Iran would keep its military advisers in Syria until the war ended. </s> Missile strikes in Syria kill over a dozen, mostly Iranians

BEIRUT (AP) — A missile attack on government outposts in northern Syria killed more than a dozen pro-government fighters, many of them Iranians, a war monitoring group and an Iranian news agency said Monday. The strikes came amid soaring tensions between regional archenemies Israel and Iran.

There was no official confirmation of the death toll or what was the target. The Sunday night strikes sparked speculation on who carried it out, with most reports suspecting Israel was behind it.

Syrian state TV called it a "new aggression on military positions" in Hama and Aleppo provinces but was not specific. Activists said there was a spectacular explosion at an arms depot and military compounds where Iranian fighters are based. The explosion was large enough to be picked up by monitors as a magnitude 2.6 earthquake.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 26 pro-government fighters were killed, most of them Iranians, with only four Syrians among the dead. It said the arms depot contained surface-to-surface missiles belonging to Iranian militias in Hama province. Another attack hit near a military air base in Aleppo province, the Observatory said.

It added that the death toll could rise, since 60 fighters were wounded and several others remained missing.

A member of an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia operating in Syria confirmed the attack on the Hama facility and put the death toll at 36, including 10 Iranian advisers. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Iranian media gave conflicting reports: One semiofficial news agency said there were no Iranians killed, while a second one said 18 were killed.

The arms depot in Hama, known as Brigade 47, is one of the largest bases housing Iranian-affiliated forces and equipment, according to Jamil al-Saleh, commander in the opposition Tajammu al-Ezzat rebel group. He said the province has at least five other bases where Iranians are deployed alongside Syrian- allied militias.

The two airstrikes were near rebel areas, he added.

"It was like an earthquake hit Hama," al-Saleh said by telephone from Hama province. He and the Observatory said they suspect Israel was behind the attack.

Lebanon's Al-Akhbar daily, considered close to the militant Iranian-backed Hezbollah group and the Syrian government, said the attack targeted "important arms depots used by the (Syrian) army and Iran's Revolutionary Guards." It said the missiles used appear to have been bunker busters.

Syria-based opposition media activist Mohamad Rasheed said that base that came under attack is about 10 kilometers (7 miles) outside the city of Hama, adding that the airstrike led to several explosions in the arms depot. He added that the area is known as the Maarin Mountain or Mountain 47.

Some of the exploding missiles in the arms depot struck parts of Hama, Rasheed said, adding that residents near the base fled their homes. He said the base has been run by Iranian and Iran-backed fighters from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Tehran has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to support President Bashar Assad's forces in the seven-year civil war.

Following the attacks, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the time when Tehran's enemies can "hit and run" is over, although he did not specifically refer to Sunday night's strikes.

"They know if they enter military conflict with Iran, they will be hit multiple times," he said in comments at a meeting with workers, according to his website.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which rarely confirms or denies its attacks.

The attack came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talked by phone with President Donald Trump. The White House said they discussed the threats and challenges facing the Middle East, "especially the problems posed by the Iranian regime's destabilizing activities."

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ratcheted up the Trump administration's rhetoric against Iran and offered support to Israel and Saudi Arabia in their standoff with Tehran.

"We remain deeply concerned about Iran's dangerous escalation of threats to Israel and the region and Iran's ambition to dominate the Middle East remains," Pompeo said after meeting Sunday with Netanyahu during his first trip abroad as the top U.S. diplomat. "The United States is with Israel in this fight."

Israel has cited Iran's hostile rhetoric, support for anti-Israel militant groups and development of long-range missiles.

The semiofficial Iranian news agency Tasnim, believed to be close to the Revolutionary Guard, denied any Iranian fighters were killed or that Iranian-run bases were hit. It quoted an unidentified Iranian informed official in its report but did not elaborate.

Another semiofficial news agency, ISNA, said the strike killed 18 Iranians, including a commander, in a suburb of the central city of Hama. It cited "local sources and activists." ISNA said the missiles targeted buildings and centers that likely included a weapons depot.

The Syrian government-owned Tishrin newspaper quoted what it called "sources on the ground" as saying that the attack in Aleppo and Hama provinces consisted of nine ballistic missiles fired from U.S.-British bases in northern Jordan. The report could not be independently confirmed.

A member of one of the Iranian-backed militias posted on Facebook that the strikes have "hit our bases" where "allies" are also present. He didn't elaborate, but said Israel was suspected of being behind the attack.

"We have been expecting an Israeli message for some time now to ensnare Iran in a direct confrontation with Israel, on Syrian territories," Kamal Fayyadh, a Lebanese living in Syria, wrote on his Facebook page.

In a nationally televised speech, Netanyahu said Israel recently uncovered 55,000 documents and 183 CDs of information from Iran's "nuclear archives" proving the Tehran government once had a nuclear weapons program.

He said the documents show that Iran lied about its nuclear ambitions before signing a 2015 deal with world powers. Iran has denied ever seeking nuclear weapons.

Trump has set a May 12 deadline to decide whether to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal — something he appears likely to do despite heavy pressure to stay in from European and other parties.

Former Israeli military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin, who heads Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies, said Iran's robust military presence in Syria and Israel's determination to prevent it have put the two on a collision course at a time of tensions over the nuclear deal, Palestinian protests in Gaza and the expected U.S. Embassy move to Jerusalem.

Tensions between Iran and Israel were running high following an airstrike earlier this month on Syria's T4 air base in Homs province that killed seven Iranian military personnel. Tehran has vowed to retaliate for that attack.

Syria, Iran and Russia blamed Israel for that attack. Israel did not confirm or deny it.

Israel Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in an interview published Thursday that his country will strike Iran if it attacks.

Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Boston contributed. </s> BEIRUT -- A missile attack targeting government outposts in Syria's northern region killed 26 pro-government fighters, mostly Iranians, a Syria war monitoring group said Monday.

Iranian media gave conflicting reports about the overnight incident amid speculation it was carried out by neighbouring Israel.

The attack came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talked to President Donald Trump on the phone. The White House said the two leaders discussed the continuing threats and challenges facing the Middle East, "especially the problems posed by the Iranian regime's destabilizing activities."

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the late Sunday night attack appears to have been carried out by Israel and targeted an arms depot for surface-to-surface missiles at a base in northern Syria known as Brigade 47. The Observatory said four Syrians were also among casualties.

It said the death toll could rise as the attack also wounded 60 fighters and there were several others are still missing.

However, an Iranian semi-official news agency denied reports that Iranian fighters were killed or that Iranian-run bases were hit. The Tasnim news agency quoted an unnamed Iranian informed official in its report but did not elaborate on the denial.

Another semi-official news agency, ISNA, said the strike killed 18 Iranians, including a commander, in a suburb of the central city of Hama. It cited "local sources and activists" for its report.

The missiles targeted buildings and centres which likely include a weapons depot, ISNA reported.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

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

The attack comes amid soaring tensions between Iran and Israel following an airstrike earlier this month on Syria's T4 air base in central province of Homs that killed seven Iranian military personnel. Tehran has vowed to retaliate for the T4 attack.

Syria, Iran and Russia blamed Israel for that T4 attack. Israel did not confirm or deny it.

Israel Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in an interview published last Thursday that his country will strike Tehran if attacked by archenemy Iran, escalating an already tense war of words between the two adversaries.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency on Monday quoted chief of Fatimayoun Brigade, an Iran-backed Afghan militia in Syria fighting alongside Iranian forces, as saying their base near Aleppo was not targeted during the strikes and they had no casualties. It did not elaborate.

Earlier on Monday, Syrian TV reported a "new aggression," with missiles targeting military outposts in northern Syria. The state-run television reported that the missiles targeted several military positions before midnight Sunday outposts in the Hama and Aleppo countryside.

Lebanon's Al-Akhbar daily, that is considered close to the militant Iranian-backed Hezbollah group and the Syrian government said the attack targeted "important arms depots used by the (Syrian) army and Iran's Revolutionary Guards." It said that missiles used in the attack appear to have been bunker buster.

Syria-based opposition media activist Mohamad Rasheed said that base that came under attack is about 10 kilometres (7 miles) outside the city of Hama adding that airstrike led to several explosions in the arms depot. He added that the area is known as the Maarin Mountain or Mountain 47.

Rasheed said that some of the exploding missiles in the arms depot struck parts of Hama adding that residents in areas near the base fled their homes. He said the base has been run by Iranian and Iran-backed fighters from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. </s> BEIRUT - A missile attack in Syria's northern region has killed 26 pro-government fighters, mostly Iranians, a Syria war monitoring group said Monday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the late Sunday night attack appears to have been carried out by Israel and targeted an arms depot for surface-to-surface missiles at a base in northern Syria known as Brigade 47. The Observatory said four Syrians were also among casualties.

It said the death toll could rise as the attack also wounded 60 fighters and there were several others are still missing.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

The attack comes amid rising tensions between Iran and Israel following an airstrike earlier this month on Syria's T4 air base in central province of Homs that killed seven Iranian military personnel. Tehran threatened to retaliate for the T4 attack.

Syria, Iran and Russia blamed Israel for that T4 attack. Israel did not confirm or deny it.

Israel Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in an interview published last Thursday that his country will strike Tehran if attacked by archenemy Iran, escalating an already tense war of words between the two adversaries.

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

Iranian state television, citing Syrian media, reported the attack. The semi-official ISNA news agency, citing "local sources and activists," said the strike killed 18 Iranians, including a commander, in a suburb of the central city of Hama.

The missiles targeted buildings and centres which likely include a weapons depot, ISNA reported.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency on Monday quoted chief of Fatimayoun Brigade, an Iran-backed Afghan militia in Syria fighting alongside Iranian forces, as saying their base near Aleppo was not targeted during the strikes and they had no casualties. It did not elaborate.

Earlier on Monday, Syrian TV reported a "new aggression," with missiles targeting military outposts in northern Syria. The state-run television reported that the missiles targeted several military positions before midnight Sunday outposts in the Hama and Aleppo countryside.

Lebanon's Al-Akhbar daily, that is considered close to the militant Hezbollah group and the Syrian government said the attack targeted "important arms depots used by the (Syrian) army and Iran's Revolutionary Guards." It said that missiles used in the attack appear to have been bunker buster.

Syria-based opposition media activist Mohamad Rasheed said that base that came under attack is about 10 kilometres outside the city of Hama adding that airstrike led to several explosions in the arms depot. He added that the area is known as the Maarin Mountain or Mountain 47.

Rasheed said that some of the exploding missiles in the arms depot struck parts of Hama adding that residents in areas near the base fled their homes. He said the base has been run by Iranian and Iran-backed fighters from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report. </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.

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Iran's Tasnim News Agency denies reports that yesterday's missile attack in Hama and Aleppo Governorate hit an Iranian military base and says that no Iranian soldiers were killed in the attack.