Syrian air defenses intercept missiles fired at airbase in Homs

Syrian air defenses intercepted all missiles fired at an airbase in the central province of Homs after midnight Tuesday, local media reported.

The missiles targeted the Shayrat airbase in Homs, state news agency SANA and the War Media, the media wing of the Syrian army and its allies, reported.

The Syrian air defenses intercepted all the missiles, said the reports, adding that the source of the missile strike was not yet known.

The same airbase was hit by a U.S. missile strike in April, 2017 over allegations of chemical weapons' use by the Syrian army in Idlib province in the same year.

The latest strike came in the wake of the airstrikes launched Saturday morning by the U.S., France, and Britain on Syrian military targets in the capital Damascus and Homs over similar allegations of the use of chemical weapons in the previously rebel-held town of Douma near Damascus by Syrian government forces.

Syrian government has strongly rejected the allegations as fabrication by the rebels and Western countries to justify a military attack on Syria.

Before the U.S.-led attack, Israeli warplanes had fired missiles on the T-4 airbase in the eastern countryside of Homs on April 9, killing 14 soldiers, including Iranian fighters.

Meanwhile, the Syrian state TV aired still image of what it said was the air defenses intercepting the missiles.

No country has yet claimed the attack. U.S. officials recently said that Washington was not planning for another military strike on Syria after the Saturday attack.