3 Iranians killed in Syria airbase strike: Iran media

Three Iranian fighters were killed Monday in a strike attributed to Israel on a Syrian airbase in the central province of Homs, Iran's Fars news agency said.

Blaming the "Zionist regime", the news agency said "three defenders of the shrines... fell as martyrs" in the attack on the base, publishing the names and photos of the young men.Tehran uses the term "defenders of the shrines" to refer to Iranian fighters in Iraq and Syria. Fars news agency is close to the elite Revolutionary Guard, the ideological army of the Islamic republic and at the forefront of its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.The Iranians killed by the air strike targeting the T-4 military airport were named as: Ammar Moussavi, Mahdi Lotfi Niyassar and Akbar Zavvar.The Syrian regime and Moscow have accused Israel of carrying out Monday's strike.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the country's conflict, said 14 fighters were killed, including Syrian army officers and Iranian forces.The Israeli army refused to comment.Israel is believed to have carried out numerous raids inside Syria since 2013, targeting the regime and its Lebanese arch-foe Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran.