Israeli missile attacks kill 26 Syrian pro-regime fighters

BEIRUT, April 30 (Agencies): Missile strikes overnight in central Syria killed at least 26 pro-regime fighters, most of them Iranians, a monitor said Monday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missiles struck a military base in the province of Hama late Sunday, 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.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday in Tel Aviv, lashed out at Iran's "ambition to dominate the Middle East".

Meanwhile, Iranian media gave conflicting reports about the overnight incident amid speculation it was carried out by neighboring Israel.

The attack came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talked to US President Donald Trump on the phone. The White House said the two leaders discussed the continuing threats and challenges facing the Middle East, "especially the problems posed by the Iranian regime's destabilising activities."

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the late Sunday night attack appears to have been carried out by Israel and targeted an arms depot for surface-to-surface missiles at a base in northern Syria known as Brigade 47. The Observatory said four Syrians were also among casualties.

It said the death toll could rise as the attack also wounded 60 fighters and there were several others are still missing.

Iranian state television, citing Syrian media, reported the attack.

However, an Iranian semi-official news agency denied reports that Iranian fighters were killed or that Iranian-run bases were hit. The Tasnim news agency quoted an unnamed Iranian informed official in its report but did not elaborate on the denial.

Another semi-official news agency, ISNA, said the strike killed 18 Iranians, including a commander, in a suburb of the central city of Hama. It cited "local sources and activists" for its report.