Israel strikes wound three civilians in Syria: state media

Three civilians were wounded when Israeli air strikes targeted a site near the Syrian city of Homs early Saturday, state media reported, with a war monitor saying a Hezbollah munitions depot was hit.

During more than a decade of civil war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions.

While Israel rarely comments on the strikes it carries out on Syria, it has repeatedly said it will not allow its arch-foe Iran to extend its footprint in the war-torn country.

"At around 00:50 (2150 GMT)... the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack with a number of missiles, from the direction of north Lebanon, targeting several positions in the vicinity of the city of Homs," state news agency SANA reported.

"Three civilians were wounded and a civilian petrol station caught fire and a number of fuel tanks and trucks were burned," it said, adding that Syrian air defences had intercepted some of the missiles.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said "Israeli missiles destroyed a munitions depot belonging to Lebanon's Hezbollah at the Dabaa military airport" in the countryside of Homs province.

Without reporting any casualties, it said there were "loud explosions as the munitions in the depot blew up, with fires seen burning at the site".

On April 2, Israel carried out similar strikes targeting a Hezbollah depot in the Dabaa airport area, the Observatory had said, killing two pro-Iran fighters and wounding five soldiers.

On Monday, Israel's army shelled a position belonging to a pro-Iran group in southern Syria near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the second such bombardment in days, the Observatory said at the time.