Airstrikes hit Syrian facility that West alleged produced chemical weapons, eyewitness says

(CNN) — Alleged Israeli airstrikes in central Syria on Sunday night struck a facility claimed by the West to have produced chemical weapons, according to a local resident.

The strikes killed at least 18 people and injured 37 others, state-run Syrian news agency SANA said Monday, citing the director of Masyaf National Hospital. SANA reported that there had been several explosions in the central Tartous and Hama governorates, including in the Masyaf countryside.

A Masyaf resident, who requested anonymity for security reasons, described to CNN hearing several explosions late Sunday night.

“About half an hour before midnight, multiple airstrikes targeted the Syrian Military Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC) and several nearby buildings. I heard at least eight explosions, followed by the sound of ambulances,” the resident said.

Western governments sanctioned a number of officials working at the SSRC in 2017 for their alleged involvement in a Syrian government project to make and deploy the deadly sarin chemical agent.

About 30 minutes after the initial barrage, the witness said they heard more explosions. Neighbors told the resident that at least four civilians, including three members of the same family, were killed in the airstrikes.

When asked by CNN about the incident, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it does not comment “on reports in the foreign media.”

The resident also said they witnessed the aftermath of the strike while crossing Al-Waraqqa highway, noting two destroyed cars and an overturned, damaged bobcat vehicle.

The director of health in Hama, Dr. Maher Al-Younes, told SANA that the strikes on the Masyaf countryside had killed at least 16 people and injured 36 others, with six of those in critical condition.

The Syrian news agency cited a military source as saying “the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of northwest Lebanon, targeting a number of military sites in the central region” shortly before 8.30 p.m. local time on Sunday.

The source said Syrian air defenses had intercepted and shot down some of the missiles.

SANA said the strikes had damaged the Wadi al-Uyun highway in Masyaf and caused a blaze that firefighters were working to control.

Western intelligence agencies have previously claimed that a branch of the SSRC and surrounding buildings near Masyaf was used to produce chemical weapons, violating the Chemical Weapons Convention.

In 2017 the US Treasury sanctioned 271 Syrian scientific studies and research center staff in response to a sarin attack on Khan Sheikhoun in northwest Syria.

The US Treasury at the time said these SSRC employees had expertise in chemistry and related disciplines and/or worked in support of SSRC’s chemical weapons program since at least 2012.

The Syrian government has denied the allegation. However, the facility was reportedly targeted by a suspected Israeli strike in September 2017, a day after a chemical attack on a rebel-held town in northern Syria, which the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons attributed to the Syrian air force.

When he was Israeli defense minister in 2022, Benny Gantz said that: “Under the vision of (former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander) Qasem Soleimani, Iran transformed CERS (SSRC) into production facilities for mid- and long-range precise missiles and weapons, provided to Hezbollah and Iranian proxies. In other words, it became yet another Iranian front – a factory for advanced, strategic weapons.”

“These sites, particularly the underground facility at Masyaf, host significant threats to the region and to the State of Israel,” Gantz added. “Masyaf, specifically, is used to produce advanced missiles.” It has been hit several times by the Israeli Air Force.

Israel has launched airstrikes in Syria intermittently since Hamas’ October 7 attacks last year – and Israel’s ensuing war against the militant group in Gaza – dramatically escalated tensions in the region, and sparked daily exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah across the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Hezbollah, which has attacked Israel in solidarity with Hamas, has maintained a strong presence in Syria since the 2011 Arab Spring protests, which in some parts of the Middle East spiraled into proxy wars. The Lebanese militant group was an active participant, fighting alongside Iran-aligned forces in Syria and on behalf of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, who brutally quashed the opposition.

In June, an Israeli airstrike near Aleppo killed an Iranian military adviser, Iranian media reported at the time.

And in April, Israel’s bombing of Iran’s embassy complex in Syria sparked a major confrontation between Iran and Israeli, bringing the Middle East to the brink of all-out war.

This story has been updated.

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