A drone strike on Thursday, October 5, targeted the Homs Military Academy in central Syria, where a promotion ceremony for officers was taking place, according to the Syrian army, causing numerous casualties.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), a UK-based NGO with an extensive network of sources in Syria, claimed that the attack left at least “one hundred dead” and mentioned several civilians and several officers killed.
“Terrorist organizations” “targeted the promotion ceremony of officers at the Homs Military Academy shortly after the end of the ceremony with drones loaded with explosives,” the Damascus army said in a press release.
The army reported several deaths and “dozens of injuries” among officers and their families. The army assured it would respond “firmly” to “this cowardly, unprecedented terrorist attack.”
In late September, 25 people were killed in clashes between the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces and supporters of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in an Arab town in eastern Syria.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Jihadist groups that control some of Syria’s territory sometimes use armed drones. The conflict in Syria, which began in 2011, has left more than half a million dead and divided the country.
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