AMMAN — Syrian state TV said there were casualties in what it said was a suspected US missile attack on a major air base in central Syria but the United States denied it had launched any air strikes against the country.
The state broadcaster earlier said explosions were heard at the T-4 airfield near Homs, which is close to the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria.
A Syrian military source was quoted as saying air defences shot down eight missiles fired at the base, where defence analysts say there are large deployments of Russian forces, and where jets fly regular sorties to strike rebel-held areas.
The state broadcaster said there were several dead and wounded.
“An aggression was perpetrated on T-4 air base in several strikes that is most likely to be an American attack,” state television said in a news flash.
The US Pentagon said it was not conducting air strikes in Syria “at this time,” formally denying the Syrian state television report.
When asked about the explosions, an Israeli spokeswoman declined to comment.
Israel has struck Syrian army locations many times in the course of the conflict, hitting convoys and bases of Iranian-backed militias that fight alongside Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s forces.
US President Donald Trump said earlier on Sunday there would be a “big price to pay” after medical aid groups reported dozens of civilians, including many children and women, were killed by poison gas in a besieged rebel-held town.
The United States launched a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base a year ago in response to the killing of dozens of civilians in a sarin gas attack in an opposition-held town in northwest Syria.
That gas attack was blamed on Mr. Assad.
The US missile strike was against a Syrian air base which Washington said was used to launch the strike.
The Syrian state denied government forces had launched any chemical attack.
Russia, President Bashar al-Assad’s most powerful ally, called the reports fake. — Reuters

SYDNEY — Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s coalition government on Monday lost a 30^th straight major opinion poll, a symbolic defeat that intensifies pressure on him after he used the same milestone to oust his predecessor.
The latest widely watched Newspoll, published in The Australian newspaper, showed the Liberal-National coalition trailing the opposition Labor Party 52-48 on a two-party preferred basis, a margin that would deliver Mr. Turnbull an election defeat.
Although Australia is a year away from a general election, the Newspoll leaves Mr. Turnbull facing questions about his future.
Three Australian prime ministers have been ousted by their own parties since 2010, dumped by colleagues after their popularity began to wane.
Once widely popular, Mr. Turnbull has fallen out of favor after a wave of scandals, including the resignation of his former deputy after revelations he was expecting a child with his former press secretary, and an eligibility crisis that saw the government temporarily lose its parliamentary majority.
A surge by right-wing minor parties and factions of his own party has forced Mr. Turnbull to embrace conservative policies, damaging his reputation as a liberal.
There was some good news for the embattled leader with a Fairfax/Ipsos poll published by The Australian Financial Review over the weekend showing that many Australians have grown weary of a revolving-door leadership.
Some 62% of those surveyed said they wanted Mr. Turnbull to remain prime minister.
Senior government lawmakers have also backed Mr. Turnbull.
“Malcolm Turnbull retains the confidence of the vast majority of our party room,” Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, deputy leader of the Liberal Party, told Sky News.
Even former prime minister and party leader Tony Abbott, ousted by Mr. Turnbull in September 2017, and who has led much of the criticism of him, set a conciliatory tone.
“The point I’d make is that we shouldn’t obsess over polls,” Mr. Abbott told reporters in Victoria state.
“I never did. I don’t think that others should.” — Reuters

KABUL — American and Afghan forces have expanded their air strikes against drug labs into western Afghanistan, aiming to choke Taliban revenue.
Air strikes in Afghanistan, the world’s main heroin source, also threaten civilians, however, and may not be an effective blow to Taliban militants, an expert on the country’s drug industry said.
The campaign targeting Afghan drug labs began as opium production jumped 87% last year to a record high in Afghanistan.
The Taliban, which US officials say controls the drug trade, has made large territorial gains since a US troop cut of recent years.
American and Afghan forces responded with a dramatic increase in air power since early 2017, with the number of weapons released tripling in the first two months of 2018 compared with a year earlier. US Forces-Afghanistan and Afghan forces conducted strikes on 11 Taliban drug production facilities in the western provinces of Farah and Nimroz this week, US Forces said on Saturday. The strikes are the first in western Afghanistan and aim to reduce the Taliban’s main revenue flow, the US statement said.
“By cutting off the Taliban’s economic lifelines, we also reduce their ability to continue these terrorist activities,” said Major-General James Hecker.
Drug processing and taxation generate $200 million annually for the Taliban, according to US Forces-Afghanistan estimates.
The drug lab campaign began in November, and has now included 75 strikes, especially in Helmand, the main poppy-growing province. The poppy’s fluid, opium, is processed into heroin.
David Mansfield, an authority on Afghanistan’s opium industry, says bombing labs has little effect on Taliban revenues because heroin profits and taxes are not as large as US Forces estimate and the simple labs can be quickly rebuilt. — Reuters