Monitor: 11 Killed in Blasts Inside Syria Weapons Warehouse

Paris, May 18 (AP) Blasts set off by an explosion at a weapons warehouse in central Syria killed 11 people and wounded dozens Friday, a war monitor said, amid soaring tensions between regional archenemies Israel and Iran.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths at the Hama air base included Syrian government troops and allied militiamen, adding it was not clear what triggered the explosions.

Syrian state TV also reported the blasts, which sent off a large plume of smoke into the sky, but did not give a reason or mention casualties.

A rebel commander in the area said the armed opposition did not target the air base and is not responsible for the explosion. There were also no reports of jets in the skies at the time of the explosions.

Today, the Britain-based Observatory reported at least five successive explosions and said it was not clear whether they were a result of attacks that targeted the air base or a result of a technical error or overheating.

The Hama air base is used by government warplanes that carry out airstrikes on central and northern Syria.

The incident comes amid heightened tensions between Israel and Iran, which has troops and thousands of allied Shiite militias supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad in Syria's civil war.

Also today, a Kremlin official reiterated President Vladimir Putin's statement a day earlier from his meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad about the need for the foreign troops to pull out from Syria, referring to Iran and Hezbollah. (AP)

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