Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz Tuesday welcomed the killing of a leading Syrian weapons scientist but declined to comment on reports his government was behind the fatal bombing.
Gen. Aziz Asbar, head of a Syrian government weapons research center, was killed along with his driver when the bomb hit his car Saturday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The pro-regime Al-Watan newspaper confirmed the killing in the central province of Hama.
Asbar headed the Maysaf research center in Hama, which was hit by Israeli air strikes last month and in September last year, the Observatory said.
The New York Times Monday quoted "a senior official from a Middle Eastern intelligence agency" as saying that Israel was behind the assassination.
"We don't of course comment on reports of this kind and I'm not going to comment now," Katz told Israeli army radio.
Zaman al-Wasl has revealed the role of Asbar in Syria's chemical arsenal through several reports:
"I can say that assuming the details of this man's activities are correct and he was engaged in developing chemical weapons and longer-range missiles capable of hitting Israel, I certainly welcome his demise."
An Israeli air strike targeted the research center July 22, Syrian state media and the Observatory reported. An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment.
A strike in September 2017 caused damage to the center, when fire broke out at a warehouse where missiles were being stored, the Observatory said.
Israel has carried out numerous strikes inside Syria since 2017, according to the Observatory, targeting government forces and their allies from Iran and Hezbollah.
Early 2017 marked the low point for Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country's now seven-year-old civil war with his authority confined to just 17 percent of national territory.
A succession of victories since then, over both Daesh (ISIS) and various rebel factions has extended government control to nearly two-thirds of the country.
With AFP
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