An Israeli airstrike hit a military facility in the central province of Hama during the night, killing two soldiers, the Syrian army said on Thursday.

The airstrike was fired from Lebanese airspace on Wednesday, the army said in a statement carried by the state-run news agency, SANA.

The statement claimed the attack would embolden “terrorists’’ in Syria fighting the government.

“This aggression comes as a desperate attempt to raise the morale of the Daesh (Islamic State) terrorist organisation after the overwhelming victories achieved by the Syrian Arab army against terrorism,” the statement said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, reported that Israeli rockets had targeted military facilities in rural Hama.

Observatory Head, Rami Abdel-Rahman, said that the struck facilities included a pro-government training camp manned by Iranian Revolutionary Guards and their allies in the town of Masyaf west of Hama.

At least two government soldiers were killed and five others injured in the bombardment, he added.

The observatory said the raid also targeted an arms depot of short and medium-range missiles and a scientific research centre in the same area.

The Israeli Army declined comments on the reports.

Yaakov Amidror, a former head of Israel’s National Security Council, said the attack would constitute “another level” of Israeli actions in Syria.

He added in a phone conversation with journalists that Israel was attempting to curb the actions of the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah and Iran in Syria.

“Israel will not allow Hezbollah to use the chaos in Syria to be stronger in the future,” he said.

Iran along with Hezbollah are allied with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war that has ravaged the country, killing hundreds of thousands.

Israel says that Iran is seeking to open a new front against Israel on the Syria-Israel border.

Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, fought a war with Israel in 2006.

Residents in Lebanon’s eastern city of Baalbeck said that they heard on Thursday the sounds of at least four warplanes flying over the area. </s> Reports say that two Israeli missiles fired by Israel have landed near Damascus International Airport late Monday.

The state-run Syrian media reported that the missiles hit an arms depot belonging to the Lebanese Shiite Movement Hezbollah.

According to the media, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Rahman, confirmed early Tuesday.

Syrian opposition sources said the midnight attack targeted an Iranian cargo plane which was landing at Damascus International Airport.

There was no immediate word on casualties.

Damascus residents told dpa they had heard several loud blasts shortly after midnight coming from near the airport.

Israel has said that it will not tolerate Iran, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, seeking to establish permanent military bases in Syria.

Syrian state-run news agency SANA, which routinely accuses Israel of helping rebels, said the strikes came as Syrian forces made advances against rebels in the southern province of Daraa.

Israel usually does not comment on the strikes it is alleged to have carried out in Syria.

Syrian and Iranian military facilities in the war-torn country have been hit several times since April. Iran has vowed retaliation for one alleged Israeli strike on April 30 that killed a number of Iranian personnel.

Iran and their Hezbollah-backed movement have been fighting alongside Syrian government forces since the conflict started in 2011. </s> The Syrian army said "enemy" rockets struck military bases belonging to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, Syrian state TV reported.

An official from a regional alliance including Iran, Hezbollah and Syria, said Monday that the strikes killed 16 people, among them 11 Iranians, according to the New York Times. The report said the bombardment also destroyed 200 missiles. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity, as he was permitted to speak to the press.

A report on a Syrian newspaper's facebook page attributed the attack to the U.S. and Britain. Media outlets affiliated with the Syrian opposition claim 38 government soldiers were killed in the strike in Hama, with an additional 57 wounded.

UPDATE: Strike likely targeted surface-to-surface missiles Iran seeks to deploy in Syria

According to several Syrian media outlets, the strikes targeted the 47th Brigade base in the southern Hama district, a military facility in northwestern Hama and a facility north of the Aleppo International Airport.

A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also said Sunday's attack targeted a warehouse for missiles and killed 26 people, mostly Iranians and Iraqis. Iran's Tasnim News agency, quoting unnamed source, denied reports of rockets hitting an Iranian military base in Syria, killing Iranian advisers.

Sources in Syria reported explosions in military bases near the districts of Hama and Aleppo on Sunday night. Some Syrian media outlets associated with the Assad regime claim Israel is responsible for the attack.

Israel's security cabinet is convening on Monday following the airstrike. The session was unscheduled, and Ministers were told it would pertain to the Iran nuclear deal. Developments on the topic are reportedly being presented.

Over the last several weeks, a row of diplomats and intelligence community members from countries involved in the deal have visited Israel, as U.S. President Donald Trump's May 12 deadline to reimpose sanctions on Iran - effectively killing the nuclear deal- draws near.

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Bashar Assad said Monday that the whole regional map is being redrawn, and that powers opposing Syria went from a phase of indirect aggression through supporting the rebels, to a direct attack after the failure and defeat they suffered on Syrian soil.

Speaking during a meeting in Damascus with Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of Iran's parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy, Assad added that this move only empowered the Syrian's people dedication to continue combating terrorist organizations.

The targeted bases were manned by the Syrian army, as well as Iran's Revolutionary Guard, and housed several missile warehouses, according to the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar. The report adds that several dozen were wounded and evacuated to nearby hospitals. According to the report, Bunker Buster bombs were used, which makes it likely the launch was airborne.

In the past, several critics have associated Al Akhbar with the Iranian-backed Shi'ite movement Hezbollah, as well as the Assad regime.

The Syrian newspaper Tishreen reported on its facebook page that the attack was carried out by nine ballistic missiles fired from U.S. and British military bases in northern Jordan. This has yet to be verified or confirmed by any other source at this time.

Reports say that dozens loyal to the Syrian regime were killed in the explosion. Contrary to recent attacks on the Assad regime, after which the Syrian army reported its defense systems shot down some of the missiles, no such claims were made after the strike.

The Iranian news agency Tasnim quoted the commander of the Iranian-backed Afghan militia Fatemiyoun as saying the the military base near the northwestern city of Aleppo is unharmed, as are his forces.

Syrian state TV says successive blasts were heard in the Hama province and authorities are investigating the response. Shortly after the explosions, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said the blasts caused a 2.6 magnitude earthquake in the area.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said shelling targeted a Syrian army base, home to the 47th Brigade, near the city of Salhab, west of Hama, where Iranian forces are also stationed.

The monitor said rockets also hit Syrian government bases in the region surrounding Nairab military airport, which is close to Aleppo International Airport.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the rocket fire, the Observatory said.

President Trump spoke on Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a White House readout. It said they "discussed the continuing threats and challenges facing the Middle East region, especially the problems posed by the Iranian regime’s destabilizing activities." The call took place just hours before Netanyahu met for the first time with Trump's new Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who is visiting the Middle East.

Earlier Sunday, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel will maintain freedom of operation in Syria.

“We have no intention to attack Russia or to interfere in domestic Syrian issues,” Lieberman said at the annual Jerusalem Post conference. “But if somebody thinks that it is possible to launch missiles or to attack Israel or even our aircraft, no doubt we will respond and we will respond very forcefully.”

The remarks came less than a month after a strike on an air force compound in Syria that is under exclusive Iranian control – a strike attributed by Syria, Iran, and Russia to Israel. Several members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in the strike. This past Tuesday, Lieberman said Israel might strike the Russian-made S-300 anti-aircraft defense systems in Syria if they are used against Israel.

At Sunday's conference, Lieberman said that Israel has three problems: “Iran, Iran, Iran.” </s> Syria on Sunday accused Israel of targeting an airbase in the central province of Homs, saying its defences hit a jet involved in the third such attack in five months.

“Our air defences are responding to an Israeli aggression and intercepting a number of missiles targeting the airport, hitting one of the attacking planes and forcing the rest to leave the airspace,” the official SANA news agency quoted a military source as saying.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that a missile bombardment killed an unspecified number of “Iranian and pro-regime fighters” at the T-4 base and was “likely to be Israeli”.

In addition to the Syrian army, Iranian fighters and Lebanese Hezbollah troops are also stationed at the airbase, according to the Observatory.

The facility has previously been targeted by repeated strikes Damascus blamed on Israel.

An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the latest incident, saying: “We do not comment on reports in the foreign media”.

Syrian state outlets published a video of a flash in the dark sky, claiming it showed the air defences responding to the bombardment.

Since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011, Israel has repeatedly targeted positions of the Syrian army and Lebanon’s Shiite movement Hezbollah backing it inside the country.

Israel usually does not claim the strikes, but has long said it will not allow Iran to establish a military presence in Syria.

On April 9, missiles targeted the T-4 airbase in the central province of Homs, killing up to 14 fighters, including seven Iranians.

Moscow, Tehran and Damascus accused Israel of also carrying out those raids.

The airbase was also hit on February 10, after Israel accused Iranian forces at the T-4 base of sending a drone into Israeli territory.

After bombing Iranian units in Syria in retaliation, an Israeli F-16 was shot down by Syrian anti-aircraft fire.

Israel then carried out what it called “large-scale” raids on Syrian air defence systems and Iranian targets, which reportedly included T-4.

Israel seized a large swathe of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in 1981, in a move never recognised by the international community.

The two countries are technically still at war.

In May there was an unprecedented escalation between Israel and Iran in Syria, with the Israeli army claiming it hit dozens of Iranian military targets across the border in response to what it said were rockets fired by Iranians at the occupied Golan Heights.

Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu said last month that Israel would “not tolerate the Iranian military entrenchment in Syria”.

“The consequences are not merely to the Iranian forces there but to the Assad regime as well,” he said.

Sunday’s strikes coincided with regime progress, backed by Russian support, in the nearby southern province of Daraa.

After a blistering military operation and a ceasefire deal with rebels, government forces are re-establishing control over the entire southern province on the border with Israel. </s> OCCUPIED AL-QUDS: Israel struck what it said were Iranian targets in Syria early on Monday in response to missile fire it blamed on Iran, sparking concerns of an escalation after a monitor reported 11 fighters killed.

Israel announced the strikes against facilities it said belonged to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force as they were occurring, continuing its recent practice of speaking more openly about such raids.

It said the strikes were in response to a medium-range, surface-to-surface missile the Quds Force fired from Syria at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Sunday, which Israeli air defences intercepted.

"We saw that as an unacceptable attack by the Iranian troops -- not proxies, not militias, not Syrian forces -- Iranian troops firing an Iranian-made missile from the vicinity of Damascus towards sovereign Israel," Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus told journalists.

Israel said targets included munitions stores, a site at Damascus International Airport that was allegedly the Quds Force’s main logistics hub in the country, an Iranian intelligence installation and an Iranian military training camp.

It said it also hit Syrian air defence batteries in response to dozens of missiles fired from them. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said at least 11 pro-regime fighters including two Syrians were killed.

Russia, which like Iran is a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country’s war, said the Israeli strikes killed four Syrian soldiers and wounded six, while damaging Damascus airport infrastructure.

The Observatory said air strikes and ground-to-ground missiles hit targets around the capital including near the Damascus airport, as well as near the Thaala military airport in Sweida province to the south of the capital. The targets included weapons depots belonging to the Lebanese movement Hizbullah and Iranian fighters, it added. </s> Missile attacks targeted Syrian and Iranian military positions in two Syrian provinces late Sunday, killing at least 26 people, a monitoring group said.

One attack targeted an army base containing artillery belonging to Iranian forces in the southern suburbs of Hama and killed Syrian and Iranian personnel, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday. The second hit Al Nayrab military airport in Aleppo and no casualties were reported, according to SOHR, which monitors Syria’s civil war through a network of activists on the ground.

Syria acknowledged the attacks on its state-run Sana news agency and posted two pictures showing smoke and fire, without elaborating. Iran’s state-run Tasnim agency, citing an unidentified person, dismissed reports of Iranian deaths.

There was no claim of responsibility, but Israel has repeatedly carried out missile strikes in Syria in the course of its seven-year civil war, and the U.S. earlier this month led a missile attack on Syrian military positions following the suspected use of chemical weapons by President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces.

The Israeli military had no comment on the strike Sunday, in keeping with its customary practice. But Israeli officials have repeatedly said they won’t let Syria become an Iranian base and will intercept weapons shipments bound for the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. </s> Two Israeli missiles landed near the international airport of Damascus after midnight on Tuesday, the media reported. According to the Syrian state TV, activists on the ground, who reported the sound of explosion, said the Israeli missiles left a “medium” explosion, Xinhua reported.

The precise target of the fresh Israeli attack is still unknown. Israel has repeatedly targeted military positions in Syria, including the airport of Damascus, on the pretext that it was targeting Iranian forces based in Syrian military sites.

In a report in the early hours of Tuesday, Syria’s state news agency said “two Israeli missiles came down near Damascus international airport”.

The head of monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, also told AFP that “the Israeli missiles hit arms depots for Hezbollah near the airport”. He said the air strike took place at 1:00 am local time “without causing huge explosions” even though they hit the weapons stores.

The observatory added that the Syrian air defence “failed to intercept the missiles”. Israel has warned of a growing Iranian military presence in neighbouring Syria, which it sees as a threat to its safety.

Its military has been carrying out strikes on Iranian and Iran-affiliated targets in Syria, with a US official saying it was Israeli forces that carried out a deadly strike against an Iraqi paramilitary base in eastern Syria on June 17.Israeli seized a large swathe of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it, in a move never recognised by the international community.

The area around Damascus International Airport has seen repeated attacks over several years. </s> This article is more than 3 months old

This article is more than 3 months old

Israel has carried out airstrikes in Syria in response to rare rocket fire from the neighbouring country. A war monitor reported that 10 people were killed, including Syrian soldiers and foreign fighters.

Israel’s army said two rockets were fired from Syria at Mount Hermon, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, late on Saturday and one was “located within Israeli territory”.

In response, the army attacked two Syrian artillery batteries, a number of observation and intelligence posts on the Golan Heights and an SA-2 aerial defence battery, it said.

The Israeli attack left three Syrian soldiers and seven foreign fighters dead, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

According to the UK-based monitor, they died in missile strikes close the capital, Damascus, where Syrian troops, Iranian forces and Hezbollah fighters are stationed. The observatory did not specify the nationality of the foreign fighters killed.

Syria’s official news agency Sana quoted a military source as saying anti-aircraft defences fired against “enemy missiles” from Israel targeting positions in south-west Damascus.

The Israeli army said its own aerial defence systems were activated due to the Syrian anti-aircraft fire, but none of the Syrian fire hit Israel.

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The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had ordered the strike. “We won’t tolerate fire at our territory and will respond forcefully to any aggression against us,” he said.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria, most of them against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets. Israel says it is determined to prevent its arch-foe Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, where Tehran backs President Bashar al-Assad in the country’s eight-year war, which has killed more than 370,000 people.

Israel insists it has the right to continue to target positions in Syria held by Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah out of self-defence.

On 27 May, Syria said Israel carried out a missile attack in Quneitra. The Israeli army said it was retaliation for anti-aircraft fire targeting one of its fighter jets.

Syrian air defence batteries intercepted projectiles from Israel and downed a number of them on 17 May, according to Sana.

The Syrian province of Quneitra includes the Golan Heights, most of which is occupied and annexed by Israel.

In January, Israel hit Iranian positions in Syria in response to missile fire. According to the observatory, 21 people, mainly Iranians, were killed in those raids.

The latest reported strike comes at a time of rising tensions between Iran and the US. The standoff has been simmering since the US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear treaty between Iran and world powers. In recent weeks the US has accused Iran of alleged threats and deployed an aircraft carrier group and B-52 bombers to the Gulf. </s> The Israeli military on Thursday said it attacked nearly all of Iran's military installations in neighboring Syria in response to an Iranian rocket barrage on Israeli positions in the occupied Golan Heights, in the most serious military confrontation between the two bitter enemies to date.

Israel said the targets of the strikes, its largest in Syria since the 1973 war, included weapons storage, logistics sites and intelligence centers used by elite Iranian forces in Syria. It also said it destroyed several Syrian air-defense systems after coming under heavy fire and that none of its warplanes were hit.

Iranian media described the attacks as "unprecedented," but there was no official Iranian comment on Israel's claims.

Israel has acknowledged carrying out over 100 airstrikes in neighboring Syria since the civil war erupted in 2011, most believed to be aimed at suspected Iranian weapons shipments bound for the Hezbollah militant group.

But in the past few weeks, Israel has shifted to a more direct and public confrontation with Iran, striking at Iranian bases, weapons depots and rocket launchers across Syria, and killing Iranian troops. Israel accuses Tehran of seeking to establish a foothold on its doorstep. Iran has vowed to retaliate.

Reflecting the scope of the overnight attacks, Russia's military said 28 Israeli jets were involved, striking at several Iranian and government sites in Syria with 70 missiles. It said half of the missiles were shot down.

Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, an annual security gathering north of Tel Aviv, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel would response fiercely to any further Iranian actions.

"We will not let Iran turn Syria into a forward base against Israel," he said. "We, of course, struck almost all the Iranian infrastructure in Syria, and they need to remember this arrogance of theirs. If we get rain, they'll get a flood. I hope that we ended this chapter and that everyone understood."

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which closely monitors the civil war through sources inside Syria, said the overnight Israeli attacks struck several military posts for Syrian troops and Iranian-backed militias near the capital, Damascus, in central Syria and in southern Syria. The Observatory said the attacks killed 23 fighters, including five Syrian soldiers. It said it was not immediately clear if Iranians were among those killed.

The Syrian military said the Israeli strikes killed three people and wounded two, without saying if any Iranians or Iran-backed militiamen were among them. It said the strikes destroyed a radar station and an ammunition warehouse, and damaged a number of air defense units. The military said air defense systems intercepted "the large part" of the incoming Israeli strikes.

An Iranian state television presenter announced the Israeli strikes, sourcing the information to Syria's state-run SANA news agency. The broadcaster described the Israeli attack as "unprecedented" since the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 war, annexing it in 1981 in a move not recognized internationally. In 1974, Israel and Syria reached a cease-fire and a disengagement deal that froze the conflict lines with the plateau in Israeli hands.

Damascus shook with sounds of explosions just before dawn, and firing by Syrian air defenses over the city was heard for more than five hours. Syria's state news agency SANA said Israeli missiles hit air defense positions, radar stations and a weapons warehouse, but claimed most incoming rockets were intercepted.

Russia sent forces to Syria to back President Bashar Assad in 2015. But Israel and Russia have maintained close communications to prevent their air forces from coming into conflict. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Moscow on Wednesday to meet with President Vladimir Putin and discuss military coordination in Syria.

Israel said early Thursday that Iran's Quds Force fired 20 rockets at Israeli front-line military positions in the Golan Heights. Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said four of the rockets were intercepted, while the others fell short of their targets. The incoming attack set off air raid sirens in the Golan.

Conricus said Israel was not looking to escalate the situation but that troops will continue to be on "very high alert."

"Should there be another Iranian attack, we will be prepared for it," he said.

It is believed to be the first time in decades that such firepower from Syria has been directed at Israeli forces in the Golan Heights.

Iran's ability to hit back further could be limited. Its resources in Syria pale in comparison to the high-tech Israeli military and it could also be wary of military entanglement at a time when it is trying to salvage the international nuclear deal.

Iran has sent thousands of troops to back Assad, and Israel fears that as the fighting nears an end, Iran and tens of thousands of Shiite militiamen will turn their focus to Israel.

Earlier this week, Syrian state media said Israel struck a military outpost near Damascus. The Observatory said the missiles targeted depots and rocket launchers that likely belonged to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, killing at least 15 people, eight of them Iranians.

Last month, an attack on Syria's T4 air base in the central Homs province killed seven Iranian military personnel. On April 30, Israel was said to have struck government outposts in northern Syria, killing more than a dozen pro-government fighters, many of them Iranians.

Israel considers Iran to be its most bitter enemy, citing Iran's hostile rhetoric, support for anti-Israel militant groups and development of long-range missiles. President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the international nuclear agreement with Iran, with strong support from Israel, has further raised tensions.

Israel and Iran have appeared to be on a collision course for months.

In February, Israel shot down what it said was an armed Iranian drone that entered Israeli airspace. Israel responded by attacking anti-aircraft positions in Syria, and an Israeli warplane was shot down during the battle.

But Thursday was the first time Israel openly acknowledged targeting Iran.

Heller reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Zeina Karam in Beirut and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.

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Iran denies attacks in southern Syria by Israel hit their installations. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-aligned medium, claims the missiles killed one Iranian and two people from Hezbollah.