A massive anonymous attack on Syrian military installations overnight on Sunday rocked the country so severely that the explosions registered on seismic charts.
Local Syrian media and opposition listed 38 regime soldiers loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad as killed, with 57 injured in the attacks which the state-run news agency said occurred in the countryside of Hama and Aleppo at around 10:30 p.m.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 26 pro-regime fighters were killed, primarily Iranian nationals. Sky News Arabia numbered the death toll at more than 40.
The recruitment center for pro-Assad, Iranian-back Shi’ite militias known as Brigade 47 near Hama city was one of the alleged targets. Hezbollah-backed Al Akhbar news reported that the strikes occurred on Syrian bases used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Additional reports indicate that the attacks hit an arms depot, causing a massive detonation that had residents of Hama fleeing from their homes.
The explosions of the attacks were so powerful that they registered as a 2.6 magnitude earthquake by the European Mediterranean Seismological Center.
More missile fire was reported north of the Aleppo airport.
Although some Hezbollah-related and regime sources blamed Israel for the bombardment, Syrian news pointed the finger at the United States and Britain, saying nine ballistic missiles were fired by the allies from military bases in northern Jordan.
The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment.