DAMASCUS: Syria on Sunday accused Israel of targeting an air base in Homs province, in the second such attack in 24 hours.
“Our air defenses thwarted an Israeli aggression and destroyed two of the rockets that targeted the T-4 air base,” a military source told state news agency SANA.
The remaining rockets “killed one soldier, wounded two others, and damaged an arms warehouse,” the source added.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported five killed, including one Syrian soldier.
It said the attack also destroyed a rocket warehouse.
In addition to the Syrian army, Iranian fighters and Hezbollah paramilitary forces are also stationed at the air base, according to the monitor.
The attack comes hours after Israel announced that it had carried out strikes in Syria in response to rare rocket fire from the neighboring country.
The Observatory said 10 were killed, including Syrian soldiers and foreign fighters in the attack south of the capital.
Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria, most of them against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets.
Israel says it is determined to prevent its arch foe Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, where Tehran backs President Bashar Assad in the country’s eight-year war which has killed more than 370,000 people.
The Jewish state insists that it has the right to continue to target positions in Syria held by Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah out of self-defense.
The latest reported strike comes amid soaring tensions between Iran and the United States.
The stand-off had been simmering since the US last year withdrew from the 2015 nuclear treaty which Iran reached with major world powers.
In recent weeks Washington has accused Iran of alleged threats and deployed an aircraft carrier group and B-52 bombers to the Gulf.
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Israeli strike hits air base in Syria’s Homs: state media
Israeli strike hits air base in Syria’s Homs: state media
- ‘Our air defenses thwarted an Israeli aggression and destroyed two of the rockets that targeted the T-4 air base’
- Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria
Iraq executes a former senior officer under Saddam for the 1980 killing of a Shiite cleric
- Al-Sadr was a leading critic of Saddam’s secular Baathist government whose dissent intensified after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran
- The cleric’s execution in 1980 became a symbol of oppression under Saddam
BAGHDAD: Iraq announced on Monday that a high-level security officer during the rule of Saddam Hussein has been hanged for his involvement in the 1980 killing of a prominent Shiite cleric.
The National Security Service said that Saadoun Sabri Al-Qaisi, who held the rank of major general under Saddam and was arrested last year, was convicted of “grave crimes against humanity,” including the killing of prominent Iraqi Shiite cleric Mohammed Baqir Al-Sadr, members of the Al-Hakim family, and other civilians.
The agency did not say when Al-Qaisi was executed.
Al-Sadr was a leading critic of Iraq’s secular Baathist government and Saddam, his opposition intensifying following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, which heightened Saddam’s fears of a Shiite-led uprising in Iraq.
In 1980, as the government moved against Shiite activists, Al-Sadr and his sister Bint Al-Huda — a religious scholar and activist who spoke out against government oppression — were arrested. Reports indicate they were tortured before being executed by hanging on April 8, 1980.
The execution sparked widespread outrage at the time and remains a symbol of repression under Saddam’s rule. Saddam was from Iraq’s Sunni minority.
Since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, authorities have pursued former officials accused of crimes against humanity and abuses against political and religious opponents. Iraq has faced criticism from human rights groups over its application of the death penalty.
The National Security Service said that Saadoun Sabri Al-Qaisi, who held the rank of major general under Saddam and was arrested last year, was convicted of “grave crimes against humanity,” including the killing of prominent Iraqi Shiite cleric Mohammed Baqir Al-Sadr, members of the Al-Hakim family, and other civilians.
The agency did not say when Al-Qaisi was executed.
Al-Sadr was a leading critic of Iraq’s secular Baathist government and Saddam, his opposition intensifying following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, which heightened Saddam’s fears of a Shiite-led uprising in Iraq.
In 1980, as the government moved against Shiite activists, Al-Sadr and his sister Bint Al-Huda — a religious scholar and activist who spoke out against government oppression — were arrested. Reports indicate they were tortured before being executed by hanging on April 8, 1980.
The execution sparked widespread outrage at the time and remains a symbol of repression under Saddam’s rule. Saddam was from Iraq’s Sunni minority.
Since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, authorities have pursued former officials accused of crimes against humanity and abuses against political and religious opponents. Iraq has faced criticism from human rights groups over its application of the death penalty.
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