Syria says Israel bombed targets in Homs area

Shuyrat air base is said to have been targeted (file image)

The Syrian army says Israel has struck targets in Homs province, just north of Lebanon, killing or injuring a number of people.

Syrian air defences shot down Israeli missiles, Syrian state media say.

The attacks targeted Shuyrat air base and other sites near the city of Homs, a Syrian military source was reported as saying by Reuters news agency.

Since the Gaza war broke out in October, Israeli attacks on Iranian-backed militia targets have escalated.

A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said four people had been killed in Tuesday evening's attacks.

Syrian state television showed ambulances rushing to the scene of an air strike where rubble from a building could be seen, Reuters reports, adding that it could not verify the location.

Two civilians are among the dead, the Syrian Observatory told AFP news agency.

Israel has carried out military strikes in Syria for years, against what it says are Iran-linked targets. However, it rarely comments on individual strikes.

Iranian forces have been present in Syria since the early stages of the Syrian civil war, where they helped support the government of President Bashar al-Assad against a widespread rebellion.

Last week, the US bombed what it said were Iran-linked targets in Syria and Iraq in response to the killing of three US service personnel in Jordan on 28 January.

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