25 dead, dozens hurt in violent Israeli strikes on sensitive sites in Syria

Syrian state media said Monday that overnight Israeli strikes killed 16 people in central Hama province, while a war monitor reported a higher death toll in the "intense" raids on military sites.

The Israeli military, which has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since its civil war started in 2011, declined to comment on the latest reported attack.

Syrian official news agency SANA, citing a medical source said the number of dead "in the Israeli aggression on a number of sites on the outskirts of Masyaf" was "16 martyrs and 36 wounded, including six critically," updating an earlier toll of 14.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported "intense Israeli strikes" overnight, providing an updated toll of 25 dead including "five civilians, four soldiers and intelligence personnel and 13 Syrians working with pro-Iran groups."

Three more bodies were unidentified, the Observatory added.

Israeli strikes on Syria since 2011 have mainly targeted army positions and Iran-backed fighters including from Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes in Syria, but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence in the country.

The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, had earlier said the strikes targeted sites "where pro-Iran groups and weapons development experts are stationed."

The Observatory said "Israeli strikes... targeted the scientific research area in Masyaf" in Hama province and other sites, destroying "buildings and military centers."

Syria's SANA news agency, citing a military source, reported that at "around 11:20 pm (2020 GMT) on Sunday, the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack" from the direction of northwest Lebanon "targeting a number of military sites in the central region."

Air defenses "shot down some" of the missiles, SANA reported.

- Missiles and drones -

It was "one of the most violent Israeli attacks" in Syria in years, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

He said Iranian experts "developing arms including precision missiles and drones" worked in the scientific research center that was hit.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani told a media briefing: "We strongly condemn this criminal attack by the Zionist regime on Syrian soil."

Syria's foreign ministry condemned the raids, accusing Israel of trying to "provoke a further escalation in the region."

Israeli raids on Syria surged after Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel sparked war in Gaza, then eased somewhat after an April 1 strike blamed on Israel hit the Iranian consular building in Damascus.

Syria has sought to stay out of the Israel-Hamas conflict, which has raised fears of a broader regional war.

In late August, several pro-Iranian fighters were killed in Syria's central Homs region in strikes attributed to Israel, the Observatory had said.

Days later, the Israeli military said it killed an unspecified number of fighters belonging to Hamas ally Islamic Jihad in a strike in Syria near the Lebanese border.

The Syrian government's brutal suppression of a 2011 uprising triggered the conflict that has killed more than half a million people and drawn in foreign armies and jihadists.

Iran-backed groups including Lebanon's Hezbollah have bolstered President Bashar al-Assad's forces during Syria's civil war.

Israeli raids on Syria have also sought to cut off Hezbollah supply routes to Lebanon.