Damascus: According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, three civilians were hurt in an Israeli airstrike on the Homs region of Syria. Although the military claimed to have intercepted some of the approaching missiles, many of them hit their intended targets.

According to SANA, which cited an unnamed military official, explosions broke out in Homs in the early hours of Saturday morning after "a number of missiles" rained down on the city and its surroundings. The official claimed the strikes were launched from airspace over northern Lebanon.

The attack resulted in the "injury of three civilians, the ignition of a civilian petrol tank and the burning of a number of tanks and trucks," the source continued, adding that the Syrian air defences "intercepted the aggressor's missiles and shot down some of them."

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In keeping with its custom of not commenting on specific strikes, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) did not confirm any operations on Saturday. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has previously acknowledged that Israel has carried out "hundreds" of attacks on Syrian territory over the past ten years, many of them against Iranian-backed forces supporting Damascus in its conflict with jihadist rebel groups.

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Additionally, the IDF has alleged that Syria's military collaborates with the political and militant Hezbollah of Lebanon, which it claims poses a threat to Israel.

Israeli strikes this month have been reported by Syrian media, including shelling on Monday close to the border with the Golan Heights, which is annexed, and an airstrike in early April that is alleged to have killed two members of Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

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The IRGC vowed retaliation, and later Israeli forces shot down a drone that was allegedly launched from Syria, according to a report in the Times of Israel that cited a military source.

Days later, according to the IDF, several rockets were fired from southern Syria, and some of them allegedly touched down on Israeli soil. The attack sparked artillery and drone strikes in retaliation, though they did not result in any deaths or property damage.

Hours before the Homs attack on Saturday, Hezbollah members and local officials met at the Israeli-Lebanese border during a visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

The foreign minister predicted during the visit that "positive developments" in the area would result in the "collapse of the Zionist entity," which is Israel.