Israeli attack in Syria: two civilians among four dead

Strikes targeted positions in the central part of the country, according to state news agency

State media said Syrian air defences intercepted the attack above the city of Homs. Gareth Browne / The National

An Israeli attack on Syria's central region has killed two civilians and wounded seven others.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that relies on sources on the ground, said Israeli missiles struck an area near three villages in the west of Homs province.

The raid killed four people, including two civilians, said the war monitor, although it was unable to determine whether the other two deaths were civilians or soldiers.

The official Syrian news agency Sana, citing a military official, said two civilians had been killed and seven people wounded in the strikes that were conducted at dawn.

"The (Israeli) aggression resulted in the death of two civilians and injured six soldiers and one civilian," the military official was quoted as saying.

The strikes targeted positions in the central part of the country, it said, without giving further details on the location.

Syria's air defences "repelled the aggression and shot down most" of the missiles, SANA said, quoting the same source.

The Israeli military, which rarely acknowledges individual strikes on Syria, declined to comment on "reports in the foreign media".

Israel has said repeatedly it will not allow neighbouring Syria to become a launchpad for Iran.

Government positions targeted

Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian territory, targeting government positions as well as allied Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters.

Similar strikes on November 3 hit positions held by the Syrian government and its pro-Iranian allies near Damascus, said the observatory.

On October 30, five pro-Iranian militiamen were killed in an Israeli strike that destroyed Hezbollah and Iranian weapons and ammunition near the Syrian capital, the monitor said.

An Israeli strike in mid-October killed nine pro-government fighters near the T4 airbase east of Palmyra in central Syria, according to the same source.