Syria: Israeli airstrikes over Homs kill and wound civilians

This handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on February 7, 2024 shows first responders and security forces at the scene of an area that was hit by reported Israeli bombardment in in Syria’s west-central city of Homs. Israeli strikes on Syria’s Homs killed five people including three civilians on February 7, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, with Syria’s defence ministry reporting an unspecified number of civilians dead. The identities of the two non-civilian casualties were unknown, the monitor said. AFP

DAMASCUS, Syria — Israeli airstrikes over the central city of Homs and its countryside late Tuesday killed and wounded civilians, the Syrian military said.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Syrian state news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official early Wednesday saying the strikes damaged both private and public property, without giving additional details. The Israeli jets reportedly struck the Syrian city and countryside from over the Mediterranean Sea near the Lebanese coastal city of Tripoli.

The strikes come as tensions across the Middle East flare with the Israeli-Hamas war and a drone attack on Sunday that killed three U.S. troops and injured dozens more in northeastern Jordan, near the Syrian border.

READ: Defense ministry: Israel strikes south Syria and Damascus

The pro-government Sham FM radio station said the areas struck included the affluent al-Malaab neighborhood and Hamra Street. It said Israel struck farmland in al-Waer, causing fires but no casualties there.

Meanwhile, Britain-based pro-opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Humanitarian Rights said at least nine explosions were heard in Homs and its outskirts, where the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group backing the Syrian government in the ongoing conflict is reportedly present.

The Observatory added that a Syrian woman, man, and child were killed in the strikes and another seven were wounded, adding that ambulances also transported two unknown individuals.

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Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years.

Israel rarely acknowledges its actions in Syria, but it has said that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces. It has also targeted members of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in Syria, including a high-ranking general last December.