In this screenshot from a video, people can be seen standing and walking in front of a building after a drone attack on a Syrian military academy in Homs, Syria, October 5, 2023. Video obtained from Portal/via Portal Purchase license rights
BEIRUT, Oct 5 (Portal) – At least 100 people were killed in an attack on a military academy in Syria on Thursday, a war monitor and an official said, as armed drones bombed the site just minutes after Syria’s defense minister left a graduation ceremony there had .
It was one of the bloodiest attacks ever against a Syrian army installation, and the use of armed drones was unprecedented in a country that has been experiencing 12 years of civil war.
The attack on the military academy in the central province of Homs killed civilians and military personnel, the Syrian defense ministry said, adding that “terrorist” groups had used drones.
No organization was named in the statement and no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Syria’s defense and foreign ministries promised to respond “with all their might.” Throughout the day, Syrian government forces carried out heavy bombing raids on the opposition-held Idlib zone.
According to a Syrian security source and a security source in the regional alliance that supports the government in Damascus against opposition groups, the Syrian defense minister attended the graduation ceremony but left minutes before the attack.
“After the ceremony, people went into the courtyard and the explosives hit. We don’t know where he came from and there were bodies strewn on the ground,” said a Syrian who helped put up decorations at the academy for the occasion.
Footage shared with Portal via the messaging app WhatsApp showed people – some in overalls, others in civilian clothes – lying in pools of blood in a large courtyard.
Some of the bodies were smoldering, others were still burning. Amid the screaming, someone could be heard shouting, “Get him out!” Gunshots could be heard in the background. Portal was unable to authenticate the footage.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 100 people were killed and 125 injured. An official from the alliance that supports the Syrian government said the number of victims was around 100.
Health Minister Hassan Al-Ghobash gave a lower death toll, telling state television that 80 people had been killed, including six women and six children, but about 240 people were injured.
The conflict in Syria began with protests against President Bashar al-Assad in 2011 but grew into an all-out war that left hundreds of thousands dead and millions displaced.
The Syrian army was weakened by the fighting and relied heavily on military support from Russia and Iran, as well as Tehran-backed fighters from Lebanon, Iraq and other countries.
Assad has recaptured most of the country, but part of the north on the border with Turkey is still held by armed opposition groups, including radical jihadists.
Reporting by Laila Bassam, Suleiman Al-Khalidi, Kinda Makieh and Maya Gebeily; Edited by Jon Boyle, Mark Heinrich, David Gregorio, Alexandra Hudson and Andrew Heavens
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