Russia, Syria say Israeli warplanes hit Syrian military airport

Russia and Syria say Israeli warplanes struck an air base in the Syrian Province of Homs and that Syrian air defense systems shot down five of eight missiles fired.

The Interfax news agency cited the Russian Defence Ministry as saying Monday that two Israeli F-15 warplanes carried out strikes from Lebanese air space on the T-4 air base on Sunday.

"Two F-15 planes of the Israeli army hit the airbase between 03:25 a.m. and 03:53 a.m. Moscow time (00:25 GMT and 00:53 GMT) with the help of eight missiles controlled remotely from Lebanese territory, without entering Syrian air space," Russia’s Defense Ministry said.

The Russian military noted that Syrian air defense systems had shot down five of the eight missiles fired.

Earlier, SANA reported that the US was suspected of launching a missile attack on the T-4 military airport in Homs that killed and wounded several people after US President Donald Trump promised a “big price” to be paid for what he said was a chemical weapons attack in the Arab country.

The Syrian state media later reported that the deadly attack was carried out by Israeli warplanes.

"The Israeli attack on the T-4 airport was carried out with F-15 aircraft that fired several missiles from above Lebanese territory," a Syrian military source was quoted by SANA.

The US and France had vowed a "strong, joint response" to the allegation of the chemical attack, which came in the wake of the Syrian Army's push to drive out last remnants of terrorists from Douma.

The alleged chemical attack on Saturday in the militant-held town of Douma in the Eastern Ghouta region left dozens dead and drew international condemnation from various countries and international bodies.

ME