Syria strikes kill 26 fighters, mostly Iranians: monitor

Missile strikes overnight in central Syria killed at least 26 pro-regime fighters, most of them Iranians, a monitor said today.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missiles struck a military base in the province of Hama late yesterday, in an assault it said bore the hallmarks of an Israeli operation.

"At least 26 fighters were killed, including four Syrians," the monitor said, adding that the main target of the missile strike was the base of the regime's 47th Brigade.

"The others are foreign fighters, a vast majority of them Iranians," said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based war monitor.

"Given the nature of the target, it is likely to have been an Israeli strike," he said, adding that strikes also hit an air base in nearby Aleppo province where surface-to-surface missiles were stored.

Syrian state media late yesterday had denounced a "fresh aggression" following reported raids by "enemy missiles".

Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz told army radio today morning that he was "not aware" of the latest strikes.

But, he said, "all the violence and instability in Syria is the result of Iran's attempts to establish a military presence there. Israel will not allow the opening of a northern front in Syria."