ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Israeli airstrikes hit targets in the suburbs of the Syrian capital and nearby Homs governorate early Monday night, killing at least four people and wounding 21 more, Syrian state media has reported.
"Israeli warplanes launched missiles toward some of the military bases in Homs and surrounding of Damascus from the Lebanese airspace," an unnamed Syrian military official said.
The strikes in western Syria were launched from the direction of Lebanon, the Syrian military told state-run SANA news agency. Homs is located about 140 kilometers north of Damascus.
SANA later reported missile defense systems in Syria tried to intercept some of the Israeli missiles; however, some civilian properties were damaged in the attacks.
Increasingly, Israel has conducted airstrikes in western Syria under the guise of targeting Iranian forces which Israel alleges are supporting Hezbollah.
SANA reported the injured included civilians including children. It added houses and civilian property have been damaged due to the attacks on Homs and Sahnaya town in Damascus.
The Israeli Defense Forces, which have previously confirmed strikes in Syria, did not immediately confirm the incident.
Targets included Lebanese Hezbollah, a base of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Syrian military from the 1st Division, ammunition depots, and a scientific research center according to a report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
The UK-based organization relies on local sources — typically those opposed to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
It described the strikes as injuring both Hezbollah and Iranian forces.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military told Reuters that they don't comment on such reports.
Iran regularly denies that its military or the IRGC are engaged in fighting in the Syrian conflict, instead advising and training their Syrian counterparts.
In June, Israel launched similar strikes in the Homs area, warning Syrian armed forces against harming "Israeli forces or territory."
In January, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz, said that Israel was intensifying its attacks against Iranian “terror ambitions” in Syria.
Now in its eighth year, the Syrian conflict has resulted in nearly half a million dead, and the displacement of over 11 million people — representing half of its pre-war population.
Update: 2:21 p.m.
