AMMAN (REUTERS) - A false alarm led to Syrian air defence missiles being fired overnight and no new attack on Syria took place, Syrian state media and a military commander said on Tuesday (April 17).

Syrian state TV reported overnight that anti-aircraft defences had shot down missiles fired at an air base in the Homs area, and a media unit run by the Lebanese group Hezbollah said missiles had also targeted an air base near Damascus.

The incident underscored fears of a further escalation in the Syrian conflict after a US, British and French attack on Syrian targets last Saturday and an air strike on an air base the previous week that Damascus blamed on Israel.

Syrian state news agency SANA cited a military source as saying a number of air defence missiles had been fired but no foreign attack had taken place.

Separately, a commander in the regional military alliance backing the government attributed the malfunction to "a joint electronic attack" by Israel and the United States targeting the Syrian radar system.

The issue had been dealt with by Russian experts, said the commander, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

State television had showed pictures of a missile it said was shot in the air above the air base.

A Pentagon spokesman said there was no US military activity in that area at this time.

Asked about reports of the missile attack, an Israeli military spokesman said: "We don't comment on such reports."

Saturday's strikes by the US, Britain and France were in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack by the Syrian military in eastern Ghouta. Both Damascus and its ally Russia have denied using any such weapons.</s>BEIRUT - A false alarm led to Syrian air defense missiles being fired overnight and there was no fresh attack on Syria, a commander in the regional military alliance that backs the Syrian government told Reuters.



Syrian state TV reported overnight that anti-aircraft defenses had shot down missiles fired at an air base in the Homs area, and a media unit run by the Lebanese group Hezbollah said missiles had also targeted an air base near Damascus.



The commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity, attributed the malfunction to "a joint electronic attack" by Israel and the United States targeting the Syrian radar system.



The issue had been dealt with by Russian experts, the commander said.</s>DAMASCUS: Syrian state media on Tuesday (Apr 17) retracted reports of an overnight missile attack on the central province of Homs, saying a "false alarm" had activated its air defences.

"Last night, a false alarm that Syrian air space had been penetrated triggered the blowing of air defence sirens and the firing of several missiles," a military source told state news agency SANA.

"There was no external attack on Syria," the source added.

In the early hours of Tuesday, Syrian state media reported that air defence systems had shot down missiles over Homs province.

It branded the incident an "aggression" but did not name a specific country.

Big explosions were heard overnight near Shayrat air base, southeast of Homs city, and near Damascus where two other air bases are located, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Syrian military positions in Homs province have been bombed twice in just over a week.

On Saturday, a volley of American, British, and French missiles slammed Syrian military positions in Homs province and around Damascus.

And on Apr 9, Syria accused Israel of striking the T-4 air base in Homs.

Both the US and Israel appeared to deny involvement in Monday night's incident.

An Israeli military spokesman said he was "not aware" of the incident and US defence spokeswoman Heather Babb said there were no American operations in the area.</s>Syrian forces have thwarted an attempted attack on the Shayrat air base in the Homs province that started early Tuesday morning. The Pentagon has denied responsibility for the attack but says that there are many players in the game. The attack came from Lebanese airspace leading many to believe that Israel could be the culprit. Israel, however, has refused to comment.

As reported by the Guardian

Syrian air defences have responded to a missile attack over Homs which targeted Shayrat air base late on Monday night, Syrian state television reported. It also reported that the missiles were shot down by the country’s air defences. State television showed pictures of a missile shot in the air above the air base. The Syrian state television report did not, however, specify who may have fired the missiles. The Pentagon said there was no US military activity in the area at the time. “There is no US military activity in that area at this time,” a Pentagon spokesman, Eric Pahon, said. “We do not have additional details to provide.”

Asked about the missile attack, an Israeli military spokesman said, “We don’t comment on such reports.” It seems that Western actors refuse to leave let peace return to Syria, and that missile attacks are not a thing of the past. Luckily, the forces of Syria were able to prevent any damage or casualties from this aggression.

Donate When you donate €20 or more, we'll send you our custom-made mug FREE! Your donations help us to continue exposing the lies of the co-oped media and keep the fight at their doorstep. Will you help expose the lies of the mainstream media? As a reader of The Duran, you are well aware of all the propaganda and disinformation reported by the mainstream media. You know how important it is to bring real news to light. Please support The Duran and help us keep reporting on news that is fair, balanced, and real.</s>According to the SANA news agency, a false alarm of an airspace violation triggered the launch of air defense sirens and several interceptor missiles in the early hours of Tuesday, but there was no external attack on Syria.

Furthermore, a source at the Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport told Sputnik that the Israeli Air Force jets could not strike the base since they had not entered the Lebanese airspace at the time of the suspected strike.

"At 21:00-01:30 [local time] there was no Israeli aircraft in the airspace of Lebanon," the source said.

Following the reports, a UK Defense Ministry spokeswoman told Sputnik that the UK was not conducting any military operations in Syria on the night of Tuesday.

Last Saturday, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom launched strikes on a number of targets in Syria in response to an alleged chemical attack in the Damascus suburb of Douma.

The attack came the same day that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) mission was set to start the probe into the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, which the West had immediately blamed on Damascus.

Following the accusations, the Syrian government has strongly denied being behind the alleged attack and stated that the missile strike was "brutal aggression."</s>Syrian air defense systems have been activated in response to a missile attack apparently targeting Shayrat Airbase in Homs province, state media SANA reports., a military source told Sputnik. The Syrian air defenses managed to intercept some of the projectiles, according to a SANA reporter. Meanwhile, the Al Mayadeen news outlet is claiming that all the projectiles were intercepted and inflicted no physical damage or casualties at the targeted Syrian base.The Pentagon has denied initiating strikes or conducting any other military activity in Homs province.the Pentagon's spokesperson told Reuters. The same information was also shared with TASS news agency by Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon.The raid in Homs countryside reportedly coincided with another missile attack against a military airbase near Damascus. According to various Arabic media channels,, but they were. The outlet's reporter also published several videos allegedly showing the launch of interceptor missiles.While it remains unclear who launched the attack, the reported strike comes just days after Washington, London and Paris carried out a coordinated strike in Syria in the early hours of Saturday morning. It also comes roughly a week after two Israeli F-15 fighters targeted another Syria's airbase in Homs province, Tiyas (also known as T-4 Airbase).</s>Syrian anti-aircraft defenses shot down missiles fired at the Syrian air base of Shayrat in Homs province late on Monday and another base northeast of the capital, Damascus, Syria’s state television and pro-Iranian Hezbollah media said.

State television showed pictures of a missile that was shot in the air above the air base only days after a U.S., British and French attack on Syrian targets in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack on the city of Douma on the outskirts of Damascus.

READ MORE: Chemical weapons investigators blocked from entering attack site in Syria

State television did not mention three missiles that were fired at Dumair military airport, northeast of Damascus, that pro-Iranian Hezbollah’s media service reported were intercepted by Syrian air defenses.

Opposition sources say Dumair airport is a major air base used in a large-scale military campaign waged by the Syrian army with Russian firepower that regained eastern Ghouta, a rebel enclave on the outskirts of Damascus.

A Pentagon spokesman said there was no U.S. military activity in that area at this time.

READ MORE: Vladimir Putin foresees ‘global chaos’ if U.S.-led coalition attacks Syria again

Asked about the missile attack, an Israeli military spokesman said: “We don’t comment on such reports.”

Shayrat air base was targeted last year in a U.S. cruise missile attack in response to a chemical attack that killed at least 70 people, including children, on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun.

WATCH: What is Trump’s end game in Syria?

Israel has struck Syrian army locations many times in the course of the conflict, hitting convoys and bases of Iranian-backed militias that fight alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

READ MORE: Syrian Canadians feel mixture of optimism and worry about U.S.-led airstrikes

Israel has long said Iran was expanding its influence in a belt of territory that stretches from the Iraqi border to the Lebanese border, where Israel says Iran supplies Hezbollah with arms.

Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed militias have a large military presence in Syria and are well entrenched in central and eastern areas near the Iraqi border.</s>Syrian military sources denied early Monday reports of an early morning missile attack targeting Shayrat air base and told the DPA news agency that the defense systems were activated, but that it turned out to be a false alarm.

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A commander in the regional military alliance that backs the Syrian government attributed the malfunction to "a joint electronic attack" by Israel and the United States targeting the Syrian radar system.

skip - The apparent air defense response to the missiles, according to "Damascus Now" on Facebook

Hezbollah's media initially also said six missiles were fired toward Shayrat and three missiles toward Dumair military airport near Damascus.

Meanwhile, SANA reported that the missiles targeting the air base were shot down by Syrian air defenses, and Hezbollah's media unit said all nine missiles were intercepted. Later that night, a false alarm was reported near Aleppo.

skip - Journalist close to Hezbollah

#Israel escalates and is looking for a wider confrontation the US failed to trigger & decided to avoid..for now...#Syria:



Israeli Jets - while violating the Lebanese airspace - fired 3 missiles on al-Damyr airport all downed and 6 on Shaayrat (Only 2 reached their objectives). — Elijah J. Magnier (@ejmalrai) April 17, 2018

Neither of the reports from SANA or Hezbollah specified who may have fired the missiles. Sky News said loud explosions were heard on the Syrian side of the Bekaa Valley, which borders Lebanon.

According to a journalist close to Hezbollah, Elijah J. Magnier, Israeli jets fired at least three missiles at the airport, "while violating Lebanese airspace."

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Responding to the SANA report, a Pentagon spokesman said there "is no U.S. military activity in that area at this time," adding: "We do not have additional details to provide."

Shayrat air base was the target of American strikes last year in response to a chemical weapons attack on northern Syria attributed to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. Opposition forces say Dumair airport has been used in the military campaign to regain eastern Ghouta, a rebel enclave on the outskirts of Damascus that the Syrian army, backed by Russian air power, completely retook in the last few days after a relentless bombing offensive.

The reports come days after the United States, together with France and the United Kingdom, carried out precision airstrikes on targets in Syria. The strikes were in retalition for a nerve gas attack on the Syrian town of Douma last Saturday, which Western powers blamed on the Syrian government.

On Sunday, a senior Israeli military official admitted to The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman that Israel attacked an Iranian target in Syria last week. “It was the first time we attacked live Iranian targets — both facilities and people,” the Israeli military official said of the strike, which targed an Iranian drone command center at T4 air base.

The official also noted that the armed Iranian drone that entered Israeli airspace in February "opened a new period," saying that "this is the first time we saw Iran do something against Israel — not by proxy."

DPA contributed to the report.</s>By ZEINA KARAM | The Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian state-run television has reported that the country’s defenses have confronted a new “aggression,” shooting down missiles over the central Homs region.

It didn’t say who carried out the early Tuesday airstrikes. The Syrian Central Media said the missiles targeted Shayrat air base in Homs. Another strike earlier this month in Homs was blamed on Israel.

The report comes a few days after the U.S., Britain and France conducted airstrikes targeting alleged chemical weapons facilities in Syria, in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack that they blamed on the Syrian government.

Experts from the international chemical weapons watchdog are in Syria and are now expected to visit that site in the town of Douma Wednesday. That’s after Syrian and Russian authorities prevented them from going to the scene Monday.</s>AMMAN (Reuters) - A false alarm led to Syrian air defense missiles being fired overnight and no new attack on Syria took place, Syrian state media and a military commander said on Tuesday.

Syrian state TV reported overnight that anti-aircraft defenses had shot down missiles fired at an air base in the Homs area, and a media unit run by the Lebanese group Hezbollah said missiles had also targeted an air base near Damascus.

The incident underscored fears of a further escalation in the Syrian conflict after a U.S., British and French attack on Syrian targets on Saturday and an air strike on an air base the previous week that Damascus blamed on Israel.

Syrian state news agency SANA cited a military source as saying a number of air defense missiles had been fired but no foreign attack had taken place.

Separately, a commander in the regional military alliance backing the government attributed the malfunction to “a joint electronic attack” by Israel and the United States targeting the Syrian radar system.

The issue had been dealt with by Russian experts, said the commander, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

State television had showed pictures of a missile it said was shot in the air above the air base.

A Pentagon spokesman said there was no U.S. military activity in that area at this time. Asked about reports of the missile attack, an Israeli military spokesman said: “We don’t comment on such reports.”

Saturday’s strikes by the U.S., Britain and France were in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack by the Syrian military in eastern Ghouta. Both Damascus and its ally Russia have denied using any such weapons.
Syrian state media SANA reports that the Syrian Air Defense Force has intercepted several missiles fired at Shayrat Airbase in the Homs Governorate. The U.S. denies any involvement.