Israel launches rocket attack on Syria's Homs area

War monitor says this is the second attack in a week targeting pro-Iranian strongholds

Syrian air defences intercept missiles over Damascus during a suspected Israeli attack. EPA

Syria's air defences intercepted an Israeli attack on the Al Qusair area in Homs early on Thursday, state media reported.

A military source told Syrian state news agency Sana the attack caused no casualties, inflicting only material damage.

“At 01.13am … the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial attack targeting several positions in the Qusayr region of Homs province,” the source said.

“Our air defences intercepted the missiles … shooting most of them down.”

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the missiles targeted military positions of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, destroying weapons depots.

The Israeli military had no comment.

In a separate development, the Israeli military said its troops were searching for “two suspects” spotted crossing the Lebanese border into Israeli territory overnight.

Homs province adjoins Lebanon, where the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah group holds sway.

On Monday, Syria said it had intercepted an Israeli attack on Aleppo that killed five pro-Iran fighters allied with the regime and destroyed the group's base and a nearby weapons depot, according to SOHR.

The area has been hit by Israel repeatedly because of reports of a growing Iranian presence.

A Syrian military spokesman said the damage was being assessed after air defences shot down most of the missiles.

The air strikes were the first since a new Israeli government led by Naftali Bennett came to power last month.

Mr Bennett vowed to maintain his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu's policy of containment of Iran's military expansion in Syria. Israel says this expansion upset the region's strategic balance.

Western intelligence sources said Israel's increased strikes on Syria since last year are part of a shadow war approved by the United States.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun said the Israeli air strikes violated Lebanese airspace.

He asked caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Zeina Akar to raise the issue with the UN and decried the "continued violation of Lebanese sovereignty by the Israeli forces to target Syrian territory".

Residents of the border region in northern Lebanon could hear the air strikes, which caused glass to shatter, the National News Agency reported.