Report: Blast at Syrian air base kills 26 soldiers

Damascus: A Syrian pro-government newspaper is reporting 26 soldiers, including seven officers, have been killed in an explosion blamed on a technical error in central Syria. Al-Watan quoted a military official as describing Saturday's explosion at the Shayrat air base in the Homs province as severe. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked group that monitors the war, put the death toll at 31. It said the cause of the explosion was unclear. The US targeted the air base in 2017 following a chemical weapons attack on opposition areas that Washington blamed on Damascus.