BEIRUT - The Syrian military said on Friday that 10 air force personnel, including six pilots, were killed in an attack on a base and said the action proved foreign involvement in the eight-month revolt against Syrian President Bashar Assad's rule.
"An armed terrorist group undertook an evil assassination plot that martyred six pilots, a technical officer and three other personnel on an air force base between Homs and Palmyra," a military spokesman said on state television.
RELATED:Turkey says it won't tolerate Syria bloodshedArab World: Syria in the balanceThe attack took place on Thursday afternoon but the spokesman gave no other details about how the assault took place.
"This confirms the involvement of foreign elements and their support of these terrorist operations in an effort to weaken the fighting capabilities of our forces," he said.
The Syrian army has been struggling to quash what began as peaceful protests against the Assad family's 41-year rule, in which some 3,500 people are estimated to have died.
But they are facing an increasing number of attacks by army defectors
who say their aim is to protect demonstrators. Damascus says some 1,100
of its security forces have been killed.
The spokesman said the "enemies of the nation" had benefited from the attack, particularly Israel.
"The army is always ready to protect the security of the nations and its
citizens and to cut of the sinful hand that targets Syrian blood and
threatens the security of its homeland," he said.
