Several loud explosions were reported at a military airbase outside the Syrian capital of Damascus early on Sunday causing concern
DAMASCUS, Syria – Several loud explosions were reported at a military airbase outside the Syrian capital of Damascus early on Sunday, causing concern over further conflict in the region.
The war-torn country has been planning large-scale strikes on the last rebel holdout in the country, Syria’s small northwestern city of Idlib, which has become a refuge for both, the country’s thousands of displaced citizens escaping attacks in their respective cities and even rebels and terror groups hiding out from the Syrian government and coalition attacks.
With the Syrian government forces driving out all rebels from their other hideouts across the country, Idlib is the only part of the country, where rebels against the Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and fragments of terror groups still reside – challenging Assad’s authority.
Over the last few months, a final strike on Idlib is looming and is now believed to be merely days away.
Now, as government forces prepare to strike Idlib, reports emerged on Sunday morning that a series of loud blasts were heard from a military airbase outside the Syrian capital Damascus.
Amid multiple conflicting reports stating that the blasts had been caused by Israeli airstrikes, the Syrian media debated the reports, eventually blaming the explosions on electric fault.
The loud blasts reportedly occurred at the Mezzeh airport, which is the location of a large military airport near Damascus.
Initially, the private, pro-regime news outlet al-Mayadeen reported that Israeli airstrikes hit the airbase near Damascus with multiple missiles.
Further, other sources reports that about four explosions were heard coming from the direction of the military airport.
A resident quoted in some local reports said, « I assume it was from an airstrike because of the explosions afterwards and ambulances with firefighters that went to the scene. »
Soon after, some videos began circulating on the social media and messaging apps, reportedly showing the explosions and the aftermath.
The amateur videos emerged on forums on Facebook and WhatsApp and seemed to have been filmed on phones at a distance.
Bright flashes of light against the backdrop of the night sky, which looked like explosions were seen in the videos.
However, apart from that, there was no other reason or cause of the blasts that was visible or revealed by officials until Sunday afternoon.
Earlier on Sunday, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the U. K.-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed in a statement to the AFP news agency that the Mezzeh military airport was struck by a « possible Israeli missile » fired across the occupied Golan Heights.
Following this, reports in AFP and other agencies quoted an official in the regional alliance backing the Syrian government as confirming that the blasts were caused by Israeli missile fire from across the Golan Heights.
Shortly after the reports appeared, a Syrian military source rejected the claim.
Syria’s state-run news agency, SANA quoted a military source in the country as stating that the base was not the target of « Israeli aggression. »
Disputing the earlier claims, the Syrian state media report blamed electrical fault for the airbase blasts.
A Syrian military source cited in the report and an Iranian official said that an electrical fault caused a series of loud blasts early on Sunday near a military airbase outside the Syrian capital Damascus.
So far, Israel has not made an official statement on the reports or the disputed claims.
However, Israel has previously carried out air strikes in Syria and has even acknowledged the strikes, that it has claimed were aimed at degrading the capacity of countries and groups backing Assad in Syria’s seven-year civil war – especially Iran and its allies, including Lebanon’s Shi’ite Hezbollah group.
