Israel, which views Tehran as its biggest security threat, has repeatedly attacked Iranian targets and those of allied militia in Syria, where Tehran has backed President Bashar Assad and his forces against rebels since 2012.

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On Wednesday, an Israeli military spokesman said eight targets were attacked, including an Iranian headquarters at Damascus International Airport and a "secret military site" that served as a "hosting facility for senior Iranian delegations when they come to Syria to operate."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khateebzadeh told a virtual weekly news conference: "The Zionist regime is well aware that the era of hit and run is over, and therefore they are very cautious."

Iran denies having military forces in Syria and says it has sent commandos to the country as military advisers. Tehran says it will provide military advisers to Syria for as long as necessary.

"Iran's presence in Syria is advisory, and naturally, if anyone disrupts this advisory presence, our response will be a crushing one," Khatibzadeh said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said at least 10 people, including five Iranians from the Quds Force, a branch of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards responsible for operations outside of Iran's own borders, were killed during the attack.

"I do not confirm the martyrdom of Iranian forces in Syria," "Khatibzadeh said.

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Syrian state news agency SANA said air defenses shot down most of the missiles in the suburbs of the capital and the country's south before they reached their targets. It said the Israeli warplanes fired the missiles while flying over the Golan Heights and neighboring Lebanon.

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SANA quoted an unnamed Syrian military official as saying that eight soldiers were wounded in the airstrikes, adding that they caused material damage as well.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the Syrian war through a network of activists on the ground, said the airstrikes occurred after midnight on Wednesday, hitting Syrian army positions and those of Iranian-backed militiamen west and south of the capital, as well as the Mazzeh military air base in Damascus.

Breaking | Syrian Air Defenses Response israeli Missiles Over Damascus City pic.twitter.com/t0cyvJeDq8

— Yusha Yuseef (@MIG29_) February 5, 2020

A "large number of missiles" hit multiple positions in these areas, triggering a fire at the Scientific Research Center in the Damascus suburb of Jamraya. The Observatory said the strikes killed 12 Syrians and non-Syrian Iran-backed fighters, adding that the deaths occurred in the southern village of Izraa and the southern Damascus suburb of Kisweh.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Israel does not usually comment on reports concerning its airstrikes in neighboring Syria, though it has recently acknowledged striking Iranian targets there. Iranian-backed fighters, including those of Lebanon's terrorist Hezbollah group, have joined Syria's war and are fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad's government forces.

Last month, the Syrian army said Israeli jets attacked the main T4 airbase in Homs province.

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The top Syrian diplomat accused Israel of carrying out missile "aggression" on Damascus and its suburbs. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

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Syria Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem spoke in Moscow during a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, according to Syria's state news agency SANA. He did not provide further details.

Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior political adviser to Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told Russia's state-funded RT channel in an interview published on Monday that Israel "will regret" the alleged missile strikes.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitoring group that has activists around the country, said the Israeli strikes killed three non-Syrians, adding that they were most likely Iranians. It said there were wounded in the attack that struck an area south of Damascus.

Shortly before midnight Sunday, Syrian air defenses engaged the missiles fired from inside Israel, according to Syrian state media.

Damascus residents said explosions could be heard near the capital. State TV said one of the Israeli missiles was shot down near the suburb of Aqraba.

Last month, Israel said it struck dozens of Iranian targets in Syria in a "wide-scale" operation in response to rocket fire on the Israeli Golan Heights the day before.

Israel has repeatedly struck Iran-linked targets in Syria in recent years and has warned against any permanent Iranian presence on the frontier.

Parts of this article were originally published by i24NEWS.

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"We have no proof at all of the attack," Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told the AFP news agency.

"We have not documented any chemical attack in the mountains of Latakia," he said.

The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance, led by Syria's former al-Qaida affiliate, accused government forces on Sunday of launching a chlorine gas attack on its fighters in the north of Latakia province.

The Syrian army dismissed the reports as a fabrication, a military source told the pro-government Al-Watan newspaper.

But the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it was assessing indications that Assad's government had used chemical weapons.

"We are still gathering information on this incident, but we repeat our warning that if the Assad regime uses chemical weapons, the United States and our allies will respond quickly and appropriately," State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.

The head of Observatory said that only jihadists were present at the site of Sunday's alleged attack, making it nearly impossible to objectively confirm the incident.

"There were no civilians in the area," Abdel Rahman said.

White Helmets rescue volunteers, who have reported past chemical attacks in rebel-held areas of Syria, told AFP Wednesday that they had no information on the purported gas attack.

Meanwhile, the French foreign ministry said Wednesday that the allegations of a chemical attack by Syrian government forces must be investigated.

"We have noted with a degree of alarm these allegations, which need to be looked into," the foreign ministry said in an online press briefing.

"We have full confidence in the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons," it added.

Part of this article was originally published by i24NEWS. Read more at https://www.i24news.tv/en.

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Fighting erupted in Idlib late last month, effectively shattering a cease-fire negotiated by Russia and Turkey that had been in place since September. Russia has firmly backed Syrian President Bashar Assad's government in the eight-year civil war, while Turkey has supported the opposition.

In a brief statement on Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Sides in Syria said government forces had ceased fire as of midnight. It described the move as unilateral but did not give details.

The pro-government Syrian Central Military Media said government forces responded to shelling by militants Sunday on the edge of Idlib. It gave no further details.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitoring group, reported an airstrike on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, saying it inflicted casualties.

The opposition's Syrian Civil Defense also reported shelling near the town of Jisr al-Shughur without reporting any casualties.

Syrian government forces intensified their attacks as of April 30 on Idlib. The area is home to some 3 million people, many of whom are internally displaced. The last round of violence also displaced some 180,000 in rebel-held areas.

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