Alleged Israeli airstrikes target Homs in Syria, injure three civilians

Airstrikes were reported in Syria’s Homs governorate just after one in the morning, injuring three civilians on Saturday. The London based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was among the first to report the airstrikes and claimed they were conducted by Israel.

Initial reports on social media claimed the strikes were 15 km. south of Homs near a town called Shinshar on Syria’s M5 highway.

Pro-Syrian regime media such as Al-Mayadeen claimed the strikes wounded three people who were injured by a fire that was started in a fuel tank because of the strikes. Fire and explosions were seen on video posted online that was alleged to be from the site of the strikes. The explosions could relate to secondary explosions from munitions that exploded.

While Syrian regime media claimed air defenses intercepted missiles, others on social media alleged Hezbollah and IRGC sites had been struck. SOHR and the website Al-Modon claimed that an ammunition depot at Dabaa airport had been impacted. All of these claims could not be verified.

The same organization and other Syrian social media sources had also accused Israel of several rounds of airstrikes in late March and early April. One of incidents happened at Al-Daba’a airfield near Qusayr. 

SOHR and other Syrian social media sources had also accused Israel of several rounds of airstrikes in late March and early April. One of incidents happened at Al-Daba’a airfield near Qusayr. That airfield is about 19km from Shinshar and near Qusayr, a major town on the Lebanese border. The area has long been a center of Hezbollah activity since 2012. 

A number of online media sources claimed Syria’s regime air defenses had confronted missiles in the skies over Homs governorate north of Damascus in the first hours of Saturday, April 29. Halab Today claimed Israel had bombed “sites of the Assad regime and Iranian militias.” Russia’s Sputnik also reported the incident. Sputnik ascribed its report to Syria’s Al-Watan media. 

Recent alleged Israeli attacks

On April 2 Syria’s regime accused Israel of airstrikes in Homs governorate in which five Syrian soldiers were wounded. Two IRGC members were also reported killed in the late March and early April incidents.

#عاجل| دوي انـ ـفـ ـجـ ـا ر ا ت عـ ـنـ ـيـ ـفـ ـة في محافظة حمص، نتيجة قصف إسرائيلي، والدفاعات الجوية السورية تتصدى لأهداف في سماء المنطقة pic.twitter.com/DWpig1iO52

— المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان (@syriahr) April 28, 2023

On March 23 Al-Jazeera noted that Syria’s regime said “Israel launched missile attack” on Aleppo airport. Syria and Iran also accused Israel of a “double crime” for airstrikes in early March.  

Iran allegedly sent weapons to Syria under the cover of earthquake aid after the February earthquake in Turkey, which also caused thousands of casualties in northern Syria.  

Another site in this area called the Shinshar military installation was struck in 2018 during joint US, UK and France airstrikes on Syria. Those sites were west of Homs, in a different site than the village by the same name that is south of Homs. Those sites included a "chemical weapons storage facility" and "chemical weapons bunker facility.” 

The reported airstrikes on Syria also follow three rounds of artillery fire reported on the Golan. On April 24 a report noted that Israeli artillery had targeted a Hezbollah site near the Golan and leaflets were dropped warning locals about Hezbollah.