FILE PHOTO: A man sits near a poster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the re-opening of the road between Homs and Hama in Talbisi, Syria June 6, 2018. REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki/File Photo

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian military air defenses struck an Israeli warplane and shot down Israeli missiles targeting the T4 air base in Homs province in response to an act of “aggression” on Sunday night, Syrian state media said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said Israel does not comment on foreign reports.

Israel has grown deeply alarmed by the expanding clout of its arch enemy Iran during the seven-year war in neighboring Syria. Israel’s air force has struck scores of targets it describes as Iranian deployments or arms transfers to Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Damascus, as well as its allies Iran and Russia, blamed Israel for an April 9 air strike on the same Homs base, an attack that killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) members. Tehran vowed at the time to respond.

Syrian state news agency SANA said the missile attack on Sunday caused only material damage.

“Our air defense systems thwarted an Israeli aggression and brought down a number of missiles that were targeting the T4 airport,” it cited a military source as saying.

The air defenses hit one of the “attacking planes and forced the rest to leave” Syrian air space, it added.

In May, Israel said it attacked Tehran’s military infrastructure in Syria, accusing Iranian forces of firing rockets at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, in the most extensive military exchange between the two foes.

An Israeli-Iranian showdown also flared over Syria in February, when Israel said an armed drone coming from the T4 base penetrated its air space. Israel blew up the drone and carried out a raid on Syrian air defenses, in which one of its F-16 jets was downed.</s>Alwaght-Syrian air defenses have repelled a missile attack carried out by the Israeli regime on the T4 airbase in the country's central province of Homs.

According to the Syria's official news agency SANA on Sunday, the source of the downed missiles was from south of the Tanf region.

"Our air defenses are responding to an Israeli aggression and intercepting a number of missiles targeting the airport, hitting one of the attacking planes and forcing the rest to leave the airspace," added a military source.

The Israeli aggression came in coincidence with the successive defeats of terrorists in Daraa where the Syrian Arab Army is carrying out a wide-scaled military operation against terrorist groups from about 15 days.

The army has been able to liberate scores of villages and towns and it has forced the armed groups in other areas to surrender and hand over their weapons and ammunition.

In June, Two Israeli regime missiles hit a location near the Syrian capital Damascus' international airport, reported Syrian state media.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the incident claiming that the missiles had targeted a Hezbollah arms depot located close to the airport.

The Israeli regime has recently increased its airstrikes in the Arab nation. The Syrian government has on multiple occasions slammed the Israeli regimes aggression actions and also warned about the “dangerous repercussions” of Israeli assaults on its territories.</s>Syria on Sunday accused Israel of targeting an airbase in the central province of Homs, saying its defences hit a jet involved in the third such attack in five months.

“Our air defences are responding to an Israeli aggression and intercepting a number of missiles targeting the airport, hitting one of the attacking planes and forcing the rest to leave the airspace,” the official SANA news agency quoted a military source as saying.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that a missile bombardment killed an unspecified number of “Iranian and pro-regime fighters” at the T-4 base and was “likely to be Israeli”.

In addition to the Syrian army, Iranian fighters and Lebanese Hezbollah troops are also stationed at the airbase, according to the Observatory.

The facility has previously been targeted by repeated strikes Damascus blamed on Israel.

An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the latest incident, saying: “We do not comment on reports in the foreign media”.

Syrian state outlets published a video of a flash in the dark sky, claiming it showed the air defences responding to the bombardment.

Since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011, Israel has repeatedly targeted positions of the Syrian army and Lebanon’s Shiite movement Hezbollah backing it inside the country.

Israel usually does not claim the strikes, but has long said it will not allow Iran to establish a military presence in Syria.

On April 9, missiles targeted the T-4 airbase in the central province of Homs, killing up to 14 fighters, including seven Iranians.

Moscow, Tehran and Damascus accused Israel of also carrying out those raids.

The airbase was also hit on February 10, after Israel accused Iranian forces at the T-4 base of sending a drone into Israeli territory.

After bombing Iranian units in Syria in retaliation, an Israeli F-16 was shot down by Syrian anti-aircraft fire.

Israel then carried out what it called “large-scale” raids on Syrian air defence systems and Iranian targets, which reportedly included T-4.

Israel seized a large swathe of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in 1981, in a move never recognised by the international community.

The two countries are technically still at war.

In May there was an unprecedented escalation between Israel and Iran in Syria, with the Israeli army claiming it hit dozens of Iranian military targets across the border in response to what it said were rockets fired by Iranians at the occupied Golan Heights.

Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that Israel would “not tolerate the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria”.

“The consequences are not merely to the Iranian forces there but to the Assad regime as well,” he said.

Sunday’s strikes coincided with regime progress, backed by Russian support, in the nearby southern province of Daraa.

After a blistering military operation and a ceasefire deal with rebels, government forces are re-establishing control over the entire southern province on the border with Israel.</s>Syrian anti-aircraft batteries responded to a missile strike on the T4 military airbase in the central province of Homs, Syria's SANA news agency said Sunday, which accused Israel of carrying out the attack.

According to SANA, the anti-aircraft batteries shot down several missiles and hit one of the attacking planes, though the news agency did not provide further details.</s>Syrian air defense forces thwarted a strike on Sunday night that targeted the T4 air base in Homs province, Reuters reported.Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that a missile shelling targetet "Iranian fighters" at the T4 Air base, AFP Reported.Israeli missiles targeted the T4 Air base in Homs in an attack on Sunday night, Syrian state media said citing a military source, Reuters reported.The Israeli-Syrian relations are strained, particularly over the disputed Golan Heights. Israel occupied the region in the 1967 Six-Day War with Syria and annexed the territory in 1981. The international community has not recognized the annexation. Israel has repeatedly expressed its opposition to the presence of Iranian and pro-Iranian forces in Syria.In June, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said that Iran's military presence in Syria was misinterpreted by Israel amid escalating tensions, stressing that Tehran's presence in Syria was limited to the work of its military advisers on the Syrian Army's side.</s>BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian military air defenses thwarted an act of “aggression” that targeted the T4 air base in Homs province on Sunday night, state media said.

The origin and nature of the attack was not immediately clear.

An army officer in the southern Syrian desert said the air defense system shot down missiles coming from south of the Tanf region towards the Homs air base.</s>Syrian military air defences struck an Israeli warplane and shot down Israeli missiles targeting the T4 air base in Homs province in response to an act of 'aggression' on Sunday night, Syrian state media said.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP that a missile bombardment killed an unspecified number of 'Iranian and pro-regime fighters' at the T-4 base and was 'likely to be Israeli'.

'Our air defences are responding to an Israeli aggression and intercepting a number of missiles targeting the airport, hitting one of the attacking planes and forcing the rest to leave the airspace,' the official SANA news agency reported.

In addition to the Syrian army, Iranian fighters and Lebanese Hezbollah troops are also stationed at the air base, according to the Observatory.

The facility has previously been targeted by repeated strikes Damascus blamed on Israel.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said Israel does not comment on foreign reports.

Israel has grown deeply alarmed by the expanding clout of its arch enemy Iran during the seven-year war in neighbouring Syria.

Israel's air force has struck scores of targets it describes as Iranian deployments or arms transfers to Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Damascus, as well as its allies Iran and Russia, blamed Israel for an April 9 air strike on the same Homs base, an attack that killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) members. Tehran vowed at the time to respond.

Syrian state news agency SANA said the missile attack on Sunday caused only material damage.

'Our air defence systems thwarted an Israeli aggression and brought down a number of missiles that were targeting the T4 airport,' it cited a military source as saying.

The air defences hit one of the 'attacking planes and forced the rest to leave' Syrian air space, it added.

In May, Israel said it attacked Tehran's military infrastructure in Syria, accusing Iranian forces of firing rockets at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, in the most extensive military exchange between the two foes.

An Israeli-Iranian showdown also flared over Syria in February, when Israel said an armed drone coming from the T4 base penetrated its air space.

Israel blew up the drone and carried out a raid on Syrian air defenses, in which one of its F-16 jets was downed.</s>Syrian military air defenses shot down missiles targeting the T4 air base in Homs province in an act of “aggression” attributed to Israel, Syrian state media said citing a military source.

“Our air defense systems thwarted an Israeli aggression and brought down a number of missiles that were targeting the T4 airport,” it cited the military source as saying.

The air defenses hit one of the “attacking planes and forced the rest to leave” Syria’s air space, it added

Damascus, as well as its allies Iran and Russia, blamed Israel for an April 9 air strike on the same Homs base, an attack that killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) members. Tehran vowed at the time to respond.

Israel has grown deeply alarmed by the expanding clout of its arch enemy Iran during the seven-year war in neighboring Syria. Israel’s air force has struck scores of targets it described as Iranian deployments or arms transfers to Iran-backed Hezbollah.

An army officer in the southern Syrian desert said the defense system brought down missiles coming from south of the Tanf region towards the Homs air base.

U.S. Central Command spokesman Captain Bill Urban said that neither U.S. nor coalition forces carried out strikes in that area.</s>Dear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analyses from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.

Syrian state TV accused Israel of striking Syria’s T4 Airbase near Homs just hours after a senior Iranian official said Iran will maintain its military presence in Syria.



Citing a military source, official Syrian news agency, SANA, said that the air defense batteries downed “a number of missiles which targeted the T4 airport” late on Sunday night. 





Unconfirmed reports said that the jets flew in via Jordan and passed over the al-Tanf area where the United States has a military base and Al Jazeera reported that between four to six missile struck the base causing material damage.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the attack targeted "Iranian forces and pro-Assad militias" and that "there are likely fatalities."Israeli officials have repeatedly voiced concerns over the growing Iranian presence on its borders and the smuggling of sophisticated weaponry to Hezbollah from Tehran to Lebanon via Syria, stressing that both are red-lines for the Jewish State.PM Netanyahu says campaign against Iran ongoing on three different fronts at security cabinet meeting, May 27, 2018 (GPO)Israel has admitted to having carried out one hundred of strikes in Syria against Iranian and Hezbollah targets and is suspected of carrying out hundreds of others.In May, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman warned that Israel will continue to attack targets, which threaten the Jewish State.Defense Minister Liberman hopes fighting with Iran in Syria over for now and the message is clear, May 10, 2018 (Reuters)"This is a permanent policy: if someone is going to carry out an attack against the State of Israel, to launch missiles against the State of Israel, we will always try to strike it first," he said.Tensions have risen dramatically between the two arch-enemies in recent months and following the strike, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that the time when Iran’s enemies could “hit and run” was over.In February, an armed Iranian drone infiltrated into northern Israel in which the IDF claims was on a sabotage attack mission against the Jewish State. In mid-April a strike on the T4 airbase in Homs province blamed on Israel killed seven IRGC soldiers, including Col. Mehdi Dehghan, who led the drone unit operating out of the base. Reports later surfaced that advanced Iranian Air defenses had been the target of the strike.Israel intercepts an Iranian drone over its airspace and destroys the caravan unit that operated it (IDF Sokesperson's Office)On Saturday, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Iranian parliament speaker's special adviser on international affairs, stated that Syrians will not allow the country to “once again fall victim” to Israel.Iran targets Israel from Syria, Israel responds, May 10, 2018 (Reuters)"The Syrian people will not allow the country to be turned into the hotbed of Zionist terrorists once again," Abdollahian was quoted by Iranian media as saying while meeting with Palestinian Ambassador to Tehran Salah al-Zawawi."The Zionist regime tries to gain dominance over Syria after Daesh, but resistance forces and military advisers from the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue their presence alongside Syria to counter terrorism, " he added.On Quds Day in early June the deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), Hossein Salami, warned that the Islamic army in Syria aimed at operating from the Golan Heights against Israel and was awaiting orders "to eradicate the evil regime."According to Israeli intelligence estimates, there are thousands of Iranian advisers and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps officers in Syria, some 9000 Shiite militia fighters from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq and another 7,000 Hezbollah fighters.Iranian forces along with thousands of troops belonging to Shiite proxy militias and Hezbollah have been taking part in a Syrian regime offensive in southwestern Syria, retaking strategic territory, including the Syrian Golan Heights, held by rebel groups for the past four years.Israel took control of the 1,200 square kilometers of the Golan Heights from Syria during the Six Day War in 1967 and unilaterally annexed the area in 1981.</s>Syrian state media said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said Israel does not comment on foreign reports.Israel has grown deeply alarmed by the expanding clout of its arch enemy Iran during the seven-year war in neighbouring Syria. Israel's air force has struck scores of targets it describes as Iranian deployments or arms transfers to Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah.Damascus, as well as its allies Iran and Russia, blamed Israel for an April 9 air strike on the same Homs base, an attack that killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) members. Tehran vowed at the time to respond."Our air defence systems thwarted an Israeli aggression and brought down a number of missiles that were targeting the T4 airport," it cited a military source as saying.it added.In May, Israel said it attacked Tehran's military infrastructure in Syria, accusing Iranian forces of firing rockets at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, in the most extensive military exchange between the two foes.An Israeli-Iranian showdown also flared over Syria in February, when Israel said an armed drone coming from the T4 base penetrated its air space. Israel blew up the drone and carried out a raid on Syrian air defenses, in which one of its F-16 jets was downed.
The Syrian Air Defense Force damages an Israeli aircraft and thwarts an Israeli missile strike on the Tiyas Military Airbase (T-4 Airbase) in the Homs Governorate.