Iranian officers reported killed in Aleppo base explosion
Base, in Aleppo's southern suburbs, evacuated by Syrian, Iranian personnel days ago out of fear of US strike; unconfirmed reports attribute blast to fighter jet attack; Iranians reported to be among those wounded, killed.
It was further reported by "field activists" that the blast was the result of a fighter jet's attack or missiles launched at the base.
Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights corroborated the report, saying a huge blast was heard in a Syrian government-controlled area in a rural region south of Aleppo.
The Observatory said the cause of the explosion was unknown, as well as its target.
Several days ago, Iranian and Syrian regime forces evacuated the base out of fear of an American strike.
Word of the purported attack came less than 24 hours following a joint American, British and French strike on Syria, with several targets hit by more than 100 missiles.
Several targets in Damascus and its vicinity were hit, official Syrian sources said, including a research center and military base.
The Pentagon said the strike was a success, and that its efficacy was so great that it set back the Syrian chemical weapons program a decade.
The strike came in retaliation to chemical weapons allegedly used by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus, last week.
Moscow may consider supplying S-300 surface to-air missile systems to Syria and "other countries," Colonel-General Sergei Rudskoi told a televised briefing on Saturday.
Russia had "refused" supplying those missiles to Syria a few years ago, he added, "taking into account the pressing request of some of our Western partners."
Following the US-led strikes, however, "we consider it possible to return to examination of this issue not only in regard to Syria but to other countries as well," Rudskoi said.
President Assad, for his part, alleged the US, UK and France decided to attack after realizing they have lost control of the area and their credibility. Consequently, Syrian state television broadcast footage of many Syrians celebrating in the streets following the strike.
