Two airstrikes carried out in Syria on Monday night are being attributed to Israel, with one entirely destroying an Iranian-backed chemical weapons laboratory. An unconfirmed report claims U.S. made F-35’s flew over Iraqi territory on their way to attacking their targets in northern Syria. 

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Israeli airstrikes in eastern Syria killed at least 14 Iranian troops and allied militiamen, a war monitor reported Tuesday.

The monitor organization also reports that all of the fatalities during the bombardment of militia installations in the Deir Ezzor region were either Iranian or Iraqi nationals.

It also said the death toll was projected to increase since several of the casualties injured in the attack were in critical condition.

The first attack successfully targeted weapons storehouses run by Iranian forces and Iran-backed militias adjacent to defense laboratories in the al-Safira region southeast of Aleppo in Northern Syria. Western intelligence believes the defense laboratory is, with the aid of the Iranian government, actively developing chemical weapons for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Assad has been accused multiple times of using chemical weapons against his own citizens in rebel-held areas. Known as the Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), analysts believe it is responsible for research and development of nuclear, biological, chemical, and missile technology and weapons, including ballistic missiles, as well as advanced conventional arms.

Sources for Al-Arabiya added that five of the missiles hit the research center, “completely destroying it.”

Syrian media claimed that their military thwarted the attack.

“Syrian air defenses intercept an Israeli aggression on a research center in Aleppo province,” SANA reported.

The second attack on Monday night targeted militia bases in Al-Mayadeen  in the Deir Ezzor region in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq. At least 14 Iranians and Iran-backed militants were reportedly killed in that attack.

An unconfirmed report stated that the Syrian and Iranian forces had no advanced warning as their radar did not pick up the warplanes tentatively identified as US-made stealth F-35s which approached the targets by way of Iraq. 

There have been a total of seven such strikes in Syria attributed to the Israeli military in the last two weeks.

On Friday, another such attack was attributed to the Israeli air force In which helicopters delivered missile strikes aimed at targets in southern Syria.

On January 15, Israel’s Air Force carried out a missile attack against Syria by attacking the T-4 military aerodrome from the Al-Tanf region bordering Jordan and Iraq. The area houses a US military base.

On March 31, Syrian missile defense units repelled an airstrike at the Shayrat military airfield some 38 km east of Homs. The attack was carried out from the Lebanese airspace.

Following the attack in Syria – the Golan Heights airspace has been closed for a full month for all flights over 5,000 feet.