Thu 05 October 2023:
A drone attack on a military college in Syria’s Homs province during a graduation ceremony has killed and wounded civilians and military personnel, according to Syrian officials.
Drones laden with explosives targeted the ceremony on Thursday as it came to an end, Syria’s military said in a statement. They accused fighters “backed by known international forces” for the attack.
The statement did not specify the number of casualties but said some of the wounded were in critical condition, including women and children. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
State television reported a “terrorist attack” at the site on its channels on the Telegram messaging app, saying there were “a large number of casualties.”
Syria’s defence minister attended the graduation ceremony but left minutes before the attack, the Reuters news agency reported, citing a Syrian security source and a source in the regional alliance backing the Damascus government against opposition groups.
“After the ceremony, people went down to the courtyard and the explosives hit. We don’t know where it came from, and corpses littered the ground,” said a Syrian man who had helped set up decorations at the ceremony.
Survivors were later moved to the basement of Homs military hospital. The Defence Ministry said the attack was carried out by “armed terrorist organisations supported by well-known international parties”.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Regime forces have previously been targeted by Israeli drones, including near Homs, but Israel rarely acknowledges responsibility.
The army is also often targeted by rebel and terrorist groups, including ISIS and Al Qaeda-backed militants.
Eleven regime troops were killed and many others wounded in a militant attack in August.
Fighters from the Ansar Al Tawhid group and the Turkestan Islamic Party attacked troops in the south of Idlib province, SOHR said.
Syria is in the midst of some of its worse violence in years, with fighting between numerous factions across several provinces.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
______________________________________________________________
FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:
TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent
FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
