Israeli missile strike on Syria kills four civilians

Israeli warplanes fired missiles targeting Syrian military positions in Homs and the Damascus outskirts in an attack that killed at least four civilians and wounded another 21, Syrian state media and Reuters reports.

The Syrian military said Syrian air defences had confronted the attack, which was launched from Lebanese airspace.

An Israeli military spokeswoman, asked about the report, said: “We don’t comment on such reports.”

Syrian state-run broadcaster al-Ikhbariya said the four civilians including a baby had been killed in Sahnaya, south of Damascus, as “a result of the Zionist aggression”.

State news agency SANA said an additional 21 people had been wounded. SANA also reported that Syrian air defences had brought down a number of the missiles.

In recent years, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria that it says have targeted its regional arch-foe, Iran, and the Lebanese Hezbollah group, which it calls the biggest threat to its borders.

Iran and Hezbollah are fighting on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian war, and Israel says they are trying to turn Syria into a new front against Israelis.