Two Syrian soldiers were killed and three others injured in an airstrike blamed on Israel that targeted the Shayrat Air Base in the countryside south of the Syrian city of Homs, Syrian state media reported. There also were “material losses,” according to the report. The report said that Syrian missile defenses downed some of the Israeli rockets; Syrian state media frequently make that claim.
Reuters reported that the airstrikes were aimed at the air base’s runway, citing an unnamed military source, who also said that the Russian military had expanded the runway and the airport’s underground facilities in the last three years. Russia has troops stationed near the airport, according to the report.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a warehouse for Iranian militias and Hizbullah located in the air base was destroyed in the airstrike.