At least 100 people were killed on Thursday in an attack on a military academy in Syria, a war monitor and an official said, with weaponized drones bombing the site minutes after Syria's defense minister left a graduation ceremony there.
Civilians and military personnel were killed in the attack on the military academy in the central province of Homs, Syria's defense ministry said in a statement, adding "terrorist" groups had used drones to carry it out.
The statement did not specify an organization and no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Syria's defense and foreign ministries vowed in written statements to respond "with full force" to the attack. Syrian government forces have carried out heavy bombing attacks on the opposition-held zone of Idlib throughout the day.
Syria's defense minister attended the graduation ceremony but left minutes before the attack, according to a Syrian security source and a security source in the regional alliance backing the Damascus government against opposition groups.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that more than 100 people were killed and 125 injured.
Many of the wounded are in critical condition and are being treated in several hospitals in Homs, Syria’s third largest city.
