Israeli Reports Say Airstrikes Destroyed Missile Factory in Central Syria

Israel attacks targets in Syria from Lebanon's airspace. (Reuters)
Israel attacks targets in Syria from Lebanon's airspace. (Reuters)
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Israeli Reports Say Airstrikes Destroyed Missile Factory in Central Syria

Israel attacks targets in Syria from Lebanon's airspace. (Reuters)
Israel attacks targets in Syria from Lebanon's airspace. (Reuters)

Israeli satellite imagery analysis company ImageSat International has published footage of an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian Masyaf area, located in Hama’s western countryside.

The company said Friday’s airstrikes destroyed four weapons production buildings “probably used for mixing and casting components of missile engines and warheads”.

It also pointed out that "the aim of the attack is to weaken the production of missiles in Syria, which Damascus may be manufacturing for the Lebanese militia, Hezbollah.”

The Israeli strikes on Masyaf have killed a number of Iran-backed fighters.

The dead were all foreign paramilitaries fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad's forces, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The missiles, which were fired from Lebanese airspace, hit positions held by Iran-backed militias in Masyaf, Observatory chief Rami Abdul Rahman said.

Another target was a government-run research center, where surface-to-surface missiles are developed and stored, the UK-based watchdog said.

Iranian experts are believed to work in the research center.

The center has been hit several times by Israeli strikes in recent years.

While Moscow, a key backer of the Assad regime, made no comment on the airstrikes, Damascus, however, denounced the attack.

Locals in the Hama and Tartous governorates collected projectile fragments and shrapnel that fell from the sky after Syrian air defenses intercepted the missiles.

According to some locals in the Safita district of the Tartous governorate, at least one missile fell on the village of Matabet.

Syria's Foreign Ministry called on the United Nations Security Council to prevent more Israeli raids against it, condemning Tel Aviv's "unacceptable" attacks.

The ministry described the attack as “a flagrant violation of the Security Council resolution 350 of 1974,” and said it was aimed at hindering the Syrian army’s campaign against foreign-backed “terrorists”.



Netanyahu Warns Yemen’s Houthis of ‘Heavy Price’

Smoke rises from a power station following Israeli airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Smoke rises from a power station following Israeli airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
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Netanyahu Warns Yemen’s Houthis of ‘Heavy Price’

Smoke rises from a power station following Israeli airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Smoke rises from a power station following Israeli airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the Houthi militias on Thursday that they “will pay a heavy price” after Israel launched strikes in Yemen in response to a missile attack from the armed group.

The Iran-backed Houthis - who have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since November 2023, in solidarity with Palestinians in Israel's war with Hamas - said they had attacked Tel Aviv overnight, launching two ballistic missiles and hitting "precise military targets.”

As Israeli jets were in the air, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile headed towards central Israel which destroyed a school building in Ramat Efal in the western part of Tel Aviv with what a military spokesperson described as falling shrapnel.
“After Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime in Syria, the Houthis are nearly the last remaining arm of Iran's axis of evil. They are learning and they will learn the hard way, that whoever harms Israel - pays a very heavy price for it,” Netanyahu warned.
Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah are also allies of Iran.
The Israeli attack in Yemen, involving 14 fighter jets and other aircraft, came in two waves, with a first series of strikes on the ports of Salif and Ras Issa and a second series hitting the capital Sanaa, military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters.
"We made extensive preparations for these operations with efforts to refine our intelligence and to optimize the strikes," he said.

Earlier on Thursday, Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed that Israel’s “long hand” will reach the Houthi leaders.