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2018-05-21 Syria-Lebanon-Iran
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Death toll from blasts at Syria airbase climbs to 28; rebels take responsibility
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 [IsraelTimes] Pro-Assad forces deny any Iranians or Hezbollah members killed in Friday kabooms
At least 28 pro-government fighters have been killed in a string of blasts at a regime airbase in central Syria earlier this weekend, a monitor said Sunday as it upped the corpse count.
The deadly kabooms tore through weapons and fuel depots on Friday at a military airport in Syria’s Hama province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
"The toll has gone up to at least 28 regime forces and loyalist fighters, all Syrian," said the Britannia-based monitor, after initially reporting 11 killed.
It said the corpse count could rise as "dozens" are maimed and "some of them at death's door," it said.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said there may also be casualties from other nationalities, as fighters from regime backer Iran and the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah were deployed there.
But a joint operations room of Syria’s regional allies denied any of their forces had been killed in the kabooms.
"We have no military advisers in the Hama airbase. We have no depots and have not positioned forces from Iran or elsewhere at this airport," it said in a statement carried on Hezbollah’s War Media Channel.
Syrian state media reported the blasts at the time but did not provide any details, while the Observatory had said they were likely due to a technical malfunction.
A rebel group called Saraya al-Jihad took responsibility for the attack, but the claim could not be independently verified.
The Sky News Arabia outlet reported that the kabooms were caused by an attack on an advanced Iranian air defense system.
The blasts came soon after midday, as the region experienced a scorching heat wave. Almost all previous Israeli Arclight airstrike s on targets in Syria have been late at night or in the pre-dawn hours.
According to Sky News, the target of the strike was an Iranian Bavar 373 long-range missile defense system, a state-of-the-art model that was unveiled in 2016 and put into service in March 2017. Iranian officials compare the system to the Russian-made S-300 system, which is considered a powerful air defense platform.
Video footage from the scene, posted to social media, showed a huge cloud of smoke rising out of the military air field.
Israeli officials have repeatedly stated that the Jewish state will not accept Iranian entrenchment in Syria and is prepared to take military action in order to prevent it.
Last week, the Israeli army reportedly told senior ministers that it believes the current round of hostilities was over, but tensions in the north will persist, and that border incidents are still possible. 
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Posted by trailing wife 2018-05-21 00:00||
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File under: Govt of Syria
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