Missiles hit Hezbollah depot in Syria’s Homs: monitor

Damascus: Missiles hit a weapons depot on Sunday belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah movement at Syria’s Dabaa military airbase in the central province of Homs, a monitor said.

“Six missiles were fired at the Dabaa military airport and surrounding area in the western sector of Homs province, targeting Lebanese Hezbollah weapons warehouses,” Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.

“The missiles would have been fired by Israel,” he added.

A source close to the Lebanese-Syrian border told AFP that planes had flown over Lebanese airspace and “some people are still expecting new strikes”.

Israeli planes often use Lebanese airspace to conduct raids in Syria.

Syria’s official SANA news agency confirmed the airbase had been targeted, but said air defences had intercepted the missiles.

“One of our military airports was the target of missiles intercepted by our anti-aircraft defences,” SANA said, citing a military source.

There were no casualties immediately reported, but SANA reported explosions in the area.

Hezbollah, backed by Iran, fights in Syria alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

Tensions are high in Syria after several Israeli bombing raids in recent weeks on regime positions, as well as on military instillations reportedly used by government ally Iran.

More than 350,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 with protests that spiralled into a brutal war.

Agence France-Presse