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Speaking of Iran

Israeli Shelling Kills Iranian Militia Members in Syria

January 23, 2021
Ahmad Salloum
2 min read
Israeli Shelling Kills Iranian Militia Members in Syria

Yesterday at dawn positions held by Syrian regime forces and Iranian militias in the vicinity of the city of Hama in central Syria were shelled by Israeli aircraft from Lebanese airspace, according to Syria’s official SANA news agency.

A military source told IranWire that the explosions that were heard at around 4am in Tartus, Baniyas and Hama were the sounds of air defense missiles. The source said the shelling targeted facilities of Iranian militias in three locations, including one for storing missiles. The shelling is also said to have targeted a military center for developing weapons - especially ground-to-ground missiles - as well as a military headquarters belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the Bamrah area of ​​Ayn Halaqim district, west of Hama.

According to the source, the shelling killed around 40 members of the Syrian regime forces and 20 Iranian militia members, while also causing massive destruction to the locations targeted.

The source said that missile parts from the regime's air defenses that were launched from Hama airport fell a short distance away on civilian homes in the Kazo area. This damaged a house inhabited by a family of 10, four of whom were killed, including the father, mother and two children, while four others were wounded and transferred to Hama National Hospital.

Civilian Casualties

This has also been confirmed by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said: "Missile parts fired by the regime's air defense brigades, in an attempt to counter the Israeli missiles, killed a family consisting of a woman, her husband, their child, and an elderly man, in addition to seriously wounding a baby, after they fell on the Kazo district in the northwest of the city of Hama."

Russia’s Sputnik news agency reported that the sounds of air defense missiles were heard in eastern Al-Qalamoun in the Damascus countryside, as well as in the countryside of Tartus, on the Syrian coast.

A few days ago Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz threatened to continue attacks on Syria to preserve the country’s security and strategic interests and to prevent Iran from establishing a military base in Syria.

Iranian militia locations in Syria are often subjected to unknown strikes, most likely Israeli, though Israel does not usually comment. The most recent of these attacks was a series of raids launched by Israeli aircraft on January 13 against weapons depots and military sites where Iranian forces are stationed in in the east of Deir Al-Zour Governorate.

Related coverage: 

New Israeli Raids Target Iranian Militias in Syria

Israeli Attack on Iranian Militia in Syria

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