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Eight Militia Members Killed in Israeli Strikes on Syrian Arms Factory

April 9, 2021
Ahmad Salloum
2 min read
Eight Militia Members Killed in Israeli Strikes on Syrian Arms Factory

Around 15 people including eight members of Iran-backed militias were killed in Israeli air raids near the Syrian capital of Damascus yesterday.

An informed source with ties to Iranian militias in Syria told IranWire that on Thursday, April 8, Israeli warplanes targeted a medium-range weapons and missiles development center close to Al-Hama in the Damascus countryside.

The facility is thought to have been housing Iranian generals and experts, accompanied by officers of the Syrian regime. The IRGC and Lebanese Hezbollah also have a significant presence in the area.

The shelling, the source said, resulted in the deaths of around 15 personnel, including eight militia members of Iranian and Iraqi nationality and seven members of the Syrian regime forces, who were guarding the site.

The official Syrian state news agency SANA reported that Syrian air defenses had responded to the Israeli raids over Damascus and downed several of the missiles. SANA claimed four soldiers had been wounded and there had been “some material damage”.

It comes after Israel targeted weapons depots belonging to Iranian militias in the vicinity of Damascus International Airport on March 16. Israeli shelling of Iranian militia-occupied sites in and around Damascus has increased notably since the beginning of this year, with this attack the eighth of its kind in 2021.

The incident also coincided with now-weekly air cargo movement between Iran and Syria. On Wednesday morning, the latest two cargo planes arrived from Tehran at Damascus International Airport.

On Tuesday, an attack attributed to Israel was also launched on the MV Saviz: a vessel being used as a base by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the Red Sea.

In recent months Israel has also shelled facilities associated with Iran and weapons convoys destined for Lebanese Hezbollah. On January 13, Israeli raids on weapons depots and military locations in eastern Syria killed at least 57 individuals from regime forces and pro-Iranian groups.

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