On July 22, warplanes of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) bombed a Syrian military position in the town of Masyaf in the western Hama countryside, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) said in an official statement, that the Israeli airstrike resulted in material loses only.
اصابتان واضرار مادية بالعدوان الاسرائيلي على #مصياف pic.twitter.com/wbqHcm7a8f
— ayham marjeh (@Ayhammarjeh) July 22, 2018
Meanwhile, the al-Mayadeen TV reported that the Israeli warplanes attacked the Syrian position from Lebanon aerospace. According to the Lebanese news TV channel, the Syrian Arab Air Defense Forces (SyAADF) shot down three missiles, which were launched by IAF warplanes, while a fourth one managed to hit the position.
Syrian pro-government activists revealed that the target was a facility of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC). Five workers in the facility were reportedly injured as a result of the Israeli airstrike.
This is the third Israeli airstrike on Syria since the beginning of this month. On July 8, IAF warplanes hit equipment of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Syrian T-4 airbase. Later on July 15, a position of the IRGC southwest of the city of Aleppo was attacked.
While the previous Israeli airstrikes targeted assets of Iran, the new one on the SSRC facility is likely a direct message to the Damascus government, which is about to restore its control of southern Syria.
