The BBC reports that Syria is claiming that Israeli rockets have hit a research center near Damascus.
The BBC:
Witnesses heard huge explosions near the Jamraya facility, which Western officials have suggested is involved in chemical weapons research.
Residents told the BBC that nearby military positions were also hit.
Israel has not confirmed the strike, but sources say it targeted weapons bound for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. It is the second suspected Israeli strike in two days.
On Friday Israeli aircraft hit a shipment of missiles in Syria, according to unnamed US and Israeli officials.
Israel has repeatedly said it would act if it felt advanced weapons were being transferred to militant groups in the region, especially Hezbollah.
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A state TV bulletin said: “The new Israeli attack is an attempt to raise the morale of the terrorist groups, which have been reeling from strikes by our noble army.”
Israeli radio quoted a senior security official confirming an attack against targets in Syria, but the official gave no further detail.
[::]Damascus was shaken by repeated explosions coming from the north-eastern suburbs.
Amateur video footage and eye witness testimony suggested rocket attacks had hit weapons dumps, triggering dramatic orange-flamed blasts.
The area houses numerous military facilities, including the Jamraya research centre, designated by Syria as a scientific research centre “in charge of raising our level of resistance and self-defence”.
Damascus-based journalist Alaa Ebrahim told the BBC it was “the biggest explosion” the city had seen since the conflict began two years ago.
He said residents living near Jamraya reported feeling a “mild earthquake” just before the blast, indicating that the rockets may have hit an underground facility.
He added that the Syrian army was likely to have suffered major casualties in the attack.
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Added:
The New York Times also reports the Syrian government saying that Israel has launched a missile attack against the military complex at Jamraya just outside Damascus overnight:
Large blasts sent towering plumes of flame and smoke into the night sky above Qasioun Mountain…home to an array of Syrian military facilities, including military research centers, and…the source of much of the government shelling of rebel positions in the suburbs.
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Israeli officials had no comment on the explosions. Nor did American officials, who signaled that the United States did not carry out the attack.
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The Jamraya complex, the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Center, is Syria’s main research center for work on biological and chemical weapons, American officials have said, raising questions about whether the motivation for the attack went beyond stopping the flow of arms to Hezbollah. The Israeli raid in January was in the same area and the complex suffered moderate damage in that attack.
President Obama, who is traveling in Central America, has said Israel is entitled to defend itself from its enemies.
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