WORLD NEWS | Five soldiers wounded in Israeli airstrikes in Syria’s Homs province

BEIRUT, April 2 (AP) — Five Israeli soldiers were wounded in Israeli airstrikes early Sunday on various locations in Syria’s Homs province, Syrian state media reported.

It marked the ninth Israeli attack on targets inside Syria since the start of the year, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitor.

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State news agency SANA, citing military sources, said the attack targeted locations in the city of Homs and the surrounding countryside. It said Syrian air defenses intercepted the missiles and shot down some of them.

The Observatory reported that the missiles targeted Syrian military bases and Iran-linked militias, including a research center.

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Israel did not immediately issue a statement on the airstrike.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against targets in Syrian government-controlled areas in recent years, including attacks on Damascus and Aleppo airports, but it has rarely acknowledged specific actions.

Israel says it is targeting bases of militant groups allied with Iran, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

Israeli airstrikes on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus killed an Iranian adviser on Friday, Syrian and Iranian state media reported.

Iranian state television reported on Friday that Iranian military adviser Milad Heidari was killed in what Israel called a “criminal attack”.

Israel launched an airstrike on Aleppo airport last month, shutting it down for two days. The airport has been a major conduit for aid since the deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey on Feb. 6.

Israel also struck seaports in government-held areas of Syria, in an apparent attempt to stop Iranian arms deliveries to Tehran-backed militant groups, including Hezbollah. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)