Israel attacked targets for a third time in four days in Syria hitting two bases where Iranian forces operate in Homs province early on Sunday.
Syria’s defense ministry announced the attacks without providing much detail, while Western intelligence sources told Reuters the strikes hit a series of air bases in the central region of the country where Iranian forces are based.
Meanwhile, media close to the Revolutionary Guard in Tehran reported that a second officer described as a military adviser, who was wounded in a similar attack on Friday died of his injuries.
"Meqdad Meqdani (Meghdad Meghdani) was wounded during the Zionist attack on Friday dawn and was martyred," Mehr news affiliated with the IRGC said.
On Friday, IRGC announced the death of an officer in one of the earlier Israeli attacks. "The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has announced the martyrdom of guardsman Milad Haydari, one of the IRGC's military advisers and officers, in the criminal attack of the Zionist regime on the outskirts of Damascus at dawn today," the media quoted an IRGC statement, which also threatened revenge.
Iran usually does not report the extent of its casualties in Syria and some observers say that acknowledging the deaths of two IRGC personnel can be a sign of Tehran’s plan to retaliate against Israel to avenge the blood of “martyrs.”
Israel, which rarely acknowledges attacks in Syria has not commented so far on this week’s strikes.
Israel launched "an aerial aggression from the direction of northwest Beirut targeting some outposts in Homs city and its countryside at 00:35 a.m.", the Syrian defense ministry said in a statement on state media.
Iran says its officers serve in an advisory role in Syria at the invitation of Damascus. Dozens of Revolutionary Guards members including senior officers have been killed in Syria during the war.
A war monitoring group based in London reported that this was the 9th Israeli attack in 2023. “Explosions were heard and fire broke out in the scientific research area in Khirbat Al-Tain,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said. Positions in Al-Qasir area and Al-Daba’a military airport were also hit, where ambulances rushed amid reports of casualties.
SOHR added that according to “reliable sources” five Revolutionary Guard officers, including a senior commander, were killed in the first Israeli strike in Damascus on Thursday.
Reuters quoted wo Western intelligence sources who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter said the rocket strikes targeted the T4 air base located west of the ancient city of Palmyra, and al Dabaa airport near al Qusayr city near the Lebanese border, an area with members of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Israel has intensified strikes in the last year on Syrian airports and air bases to disrupt what it says is Iran's use of aerial supply lines to deliver arms to militias.
According to Reuters, Western intelligence sources have said Iran is increasingly using several civilian airports to deliver more arms, taking advantage of heavy air traffic as cargo planes offload relief aid following February's deadly earthquake.
In March Israel targeted the airport in the northern city of Aleppo where Iran said it was delivering aid for earthquake victims, but Israel characterized the flights as military in nature disguised as assistance.
Meanwhile Fars news agency in Tehran, also affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard reported that memorial services in Iran and Syria will be held for the first officer, Milad Haydari.