At Least 26 Killed in Missile Attack on Syria, Iranian Positions

(Bloomberg) -- Missile attacks targeted Syrian and Iranian military positions in two Syrian provinces late Sunday, killing at least 26 people, a monitoring group said.

One attack targeted an army base containing artillery belonging to Iranian forces in the southern suburbs of Hama and killed Syrian and Iranian personnel, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday. The second hit Al Nayrab military airport in Aleppo and no casualties were reported, according to SOHR, which monitors Syria's civil war through a network of activists on the ground.

Syria acknowledged the attacks on its state-run Sana news agency and posted two pictures showing smoke and fire, without elaborating. Iran's state-run Tasnim agency, citing an unidentified person, dismissed reports of Iranian deaths.

There was no claim of responsibility, but Israel has repeatedly carried out missile strikes in Syria in the course of its seven-year civil war, and the U.S. earlier this month led a missile attack on Syrian military positions following the suspected use of chemical weapons by President Bashar Al-Assad's forces.

The Israeli military had no comment on the strike Sunday, in keeping with its customary practice. But Israeli officials have repeatedly said they won't let Syria become an Iranian base and will intercept weapons shipments bound for the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

--With assistance from Arsalan Shahla

To contact the reporter on this story: Dana Khraiche in Beirut at dkhraiche@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Mark Williams

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