Israel carries out air raid near Syrian city of Hama

DAMASCUS - Israeli planes targeted a military position near the province of Hama in Syria on Saturday, but Syrian air defences intercepted and downed some of the rockets, Syrian state television said on Saturday.

Citing military sources, SANA news agency and Syrian state television said that "Around 2:30 am (2330 GMT Friday)... the Israeli air force carried out a strike targeting one of our military positions towards the city of Masyaf".

"The enemy missiles were dealt with and some of them were shot down before reaching their target, resulting in the damage of a few buildings and the injury of three fighters," SANA added.

A Britain-based war monitor said the strike killed several Iranian fighters and wounded 17 Syrian troops and their allies.

An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment on the foreign media report.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike targeted a Syrian military college in the town and two buildings used by Iranian forces in nearby villages -- a development centre for medium-range missiles in Zawi and a training camp in Sheikh Ghadban.

Since the civil war started, Israel has carried out scores of military strikes in Syria during against suspected arms transfers and deployments by Iranian forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies which are backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. 

With the support of the US administration of President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed repeatedly to take whatever military action he deems necessary to prevent archfoe Iran and Hezbollah establishing a continuing military presence.

Late last month, Trump broke with decades of international consensus to recognise Israel's unilateral annexation of the strategic Golan Heights, seized from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967.

The move was a diplomatic prize for Israel, but met with a chorus of opposition from US foes and allies alike.

Iran and Hezbollah have both intervened in Syria's civil war, which erupted in 2011 to support forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

They were joined in 2015 by Russia, which supplied its S300 air defence system to Assad's forces after a Russian aircraft was downed by mistake by Syrian defence systems during an Israeli raid on September 17, killing all 15 people on board.

After several months of frosty relations, Russia and Israeli resumed coordination of their military operations in Syria and Israel's bombing campaign picked up again.