Following late night explosions being reported in the central Syrian region of Homs, state media SANA has subsequently confirmed that an Israeli airstrike has wounded at least four soldiers and caused "material losses" at the Shayrat Airbase.
The Israeli attack came from the direction of northern Lebanon. It has become common for Israeli jets to use undefended Lebanese airspace from which to attack targets inside Syria. Images showing a series of large explosions have circulated on social media.
Shayrat Airbase has long been well-known also as a base of Russian troop operations over several years. It remains unknown if Russians were present at the base when it was struck late Thursday night. Some Israeli sources have said ammo storage depots were hit, or else 'Iranian assets' were targeted - as is the usual refrain after such operations.
The airfield is the same base bombed by then President Trump in April of 2017:
The US launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from its warships in the eastern Mediterranean early Friday, taking aim at the Syrian airbase it believes houses the aircraft that carried out the attack.
But it’s not just Syria that uses the Shayrat airfield – Russia, its key ally, has forces based there too.
Elsewhere in Syria, pro-Damascus Arab tribes in the east are seeking to drive out American occupying forces in the vicinity of Syria's oil and gas sites.
Turkish media reported at least nine separate clashes between Syrian Arab militants and US-backed Kurdish groups. "A warplane belonging to the international coalition led by the US made a low flight above the Deir ez-Zor countryside," Anadolu Agency said. One regional report has said the Syrian national army is involved in the fighting:
Syrian army troops shelled positions of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Thursday, responding to attacks from the Kurdish militia on its territory in the countryside of the eastern governorate of Deir Ezzor.
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) shelled SDF positions in Al-Busayrah city and the towns of Al-Sabha, Bariha, Jadid Bakara, and Al-Dahla in Deir Ezzor’s eastern countryside, Al Mayadeen reported on Thursday.
The SDF’s media center announced on August 8 that its militants targeted the Syrian army and allied forces in the Al-Zubari and Sa’lu villages of the Deir Ezzor countryside with artillery and mortar shells.
Beirut-based The Cradle additionally reports that "A coalition of Syrian Arab tribes, dubbed the Army of Tribes, seized several towns from the SDF in the countryside of eastern Syria’s Deir Ezzor governorate on 7 August."
In the evening hours of Thursday there have been unconfirmed reports of a fresh attack against American forces located at the Rumalyn Landing Zone in Northeastern Syria.
All of this is happening against the backdrop of continued fierce fighting between Hezbollah and Israel in southern Lebanon, a situation which threatens to escalate further...
Very likely, the Syria situation will continue to unravel rapidly in the event of a major clash between Israel and Iran (and its proxies). Some 1,000 US troops (and likely many more contractors) continue to occupy northeast Syria, and we could be witnessing the beginning of the end of the Pentagon's occupation of sovereign Syrian territory.