Arab media: Israeli strike on Syrian base targeted ‎Iranian officials ‎

The latest Israeli strike on a Syrian air base in ‎Homs province targeted Iranian officials, the Saudi-‎owned pan-Arab television station Al Arabiya ‎reported Monday. ‎

Nine people were reportedly killed in a strike on ‎the T4 air base overnight Sunday, Syrian media said. ‎

Damascus accused Israel of the strike on the base, ‎known to be used by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the war-torn country. Israel has not ‎corroborated the reports.‎

An official with the Britain-based Syrian ‎Observatory for Human Rights told Al Arabiya that the ‎fatalities in the strike were "Iranian officials or ‎fighters affiliated with the Syrian regime." ‎

‎"This was most likely an Israeli strike," the ‎official said. ‎

Arab social media said the target was an IRGC ‎gathering on the base. Some posts said a drone ‎control unit and anti-aircraft defense systems were also ‎destroyed in the strike.‎

Also on Monday, Israel threatened a "harsh response" ‎to any attempt by Syrian forces advancing against ‎southern rebel areas to deploy in a Golan Heights ‎frontier zone that was demilitarized under a 44-‎year-old U.N. monitored truce between the ‎neighboring foes.‎

Syrian government forces backed by Russia have ‎launched an offensive in the southern Daraa province ‎and are widely expected to move on rebel-held ‎Quneitra, which is in a part of the Syrian Golan ‎covered by the armistice.‎

Israel worries that Syria's President Bashar Assad ‎could let its enemies Iran and Hezbollah move forces ‎into the area, giving them a foothold near its ‎border. ‎

‎"For our part, we will observe the 1974 agreement, ‎and there, too, we will insist that every last ‎letter is upheld, and any violation with meet a ‎harsh response from Israel," Defense Minister ‎Avigdor Lieberman said Monday.‎

Commenting on the alleged strike in Syria, Lieberman ‎said, "I read about it in the newspapers and I have ‎nothing to add. Or perhaps just one thing – that our ‎policy has not changed. We will not allow Iran's ‎military entrenchment in Syria and we will not allow ‎Syrian soil to be turned into a vanguard against the ‎State of Israel. Nothing has changed. There is ‎nothing new."