Israel Strikes Chemical Weapons Facility

On Thursday the Syrian Army reported a strike by the Israeli air force against a Syrian military base near Masyaf, killing two and causing damage.

The Syrian Army General Command accused Israel of “a desperate attempt to raise the collapsed morale” of the jihadist group Islamic State, and warned of the “dangerous repercussion of such hostile acts on the security and stability of the region.”

But later in the day General Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israeli military intelligence, said that the target was a Syrian chemical weapons facility. Thus, he said, the strike demonstrates Israel’s intention to enforce its red lines for self-defence.

According to a BBC report, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rockets had hit a Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) facility and a military camp nearby.

Earlier in the year another agency reported that three branches of the SSRC - at Masyaf, and at Dummar and Barzeh - were being used to produce chemical weapons.