More missile attacks reported in Syria; neutralised them, says army

Three days after a coalition of western powers carried out missile strikes in Syria, the media wing of the country's armed forces claimed to have responded to a missile strike allegedly carried out by Israel on two of its airbases.

According to War Media, the airbases were targeted after midnight on Tuesday, April 17, and the Syrian air defence forces responded to the act.

Citing the report, China's Xinhua said while the Syrian forces intercepted most of the six missiles that were fired at the Shayrat airbase in the Homs province in central Syria, they also neutralised three missiles that were heading towards Dumair airbase in the eastern Qalamoun region to the north of Damascus.

Syria's state news agency SANA also reported about the attack, adding that though the missiles' place of origin was not known, speculations were rife that Israel could have been behind the attacks after the US denied carrying them out.

US missiles had hit the Shayrat airbase in April 2017 after the Syrian army was accused of using chemical weapons in the Idlib province in north-western Syria.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also claimed about Israeli air attacks on the T-4 airbase in Homs on April 9, killing 14 people, including Iranian fighters. It happened two days after the Bashar al Assad regime of Syria allegedly used chemical weapons at Douma in the Damascus suburbs to destroy the last bastion of the rebels.

On April 14, the US, UK and France carried out joint air strikes at Syria's chemical weapons facilities as a retaliation against the April 7 attacks.

According to Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV, Tuesday's attack on Dumair airbase came a day before an agreement was to be made for the evacuation of rebels from the zone.

No side claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attacks while US officials said Washington wasn't planning any other strike after the mission of April 14, which President Donald Trump considered "accomplished".