Damascus, April 17: The reported overnight missile strikes on two Syrian airbases turned out to be a false alarm as there was no attack, state TV reported on Tuesday.
After midnight, Syrian state media outlets and the War Media, the media wing of the Syrian army and its allies, reported that Syrian air defences responded to a missile strike believed to be carried out by Israel, reports Xinhua news agency.
The reports claimed that six missiles targeted the Shayrat airbase in the province of Homs, but most of them were intercepted.
They also reported that three other missiles targeted the Dumair airbase in the north of Damascus, but were also intercepted before reaching the targets.
The false alarm came as the Syrian military has been on the highest alert against further attacks following the joint airstrikes on Syria launched on April 13 by the US, France and Britain in retaliation to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government forces.
Syria has strongly rejected the allegations as fabrication.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
