Russian Withdrawal of Missile Defenses Enables Israeli Airstrike on Weapons Depot in Syria

Russia’s removal of S-300 missile defense batteries, to be redeployed for its war in Ukraine, facilitated an Israeli airstrike Thursday on a major depot of Iranian-developed missiles in central Syria, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Sunday. The depot, in the city of Masyaf in the central Hama Governorate, contained a stockpile of more than 1,000 midrange surface-to-surface missiles, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday. The airstrike caused the missiles to explode over a period of four to six hours, according to eyewitnesses, injuring 14 civilians in Masyaf. One Syrian military officer was killed during the attack, which was said to be the 21^st one launched by Israel against military targets in Syria this year.