Syrian state media reported an Israeli attack early Thursday on the central provinces of Homs and Hama, after an Israeli strike hit the country's south the previous day.
"At around 1:00 am (2200 GMT Wednesday), the Israeli enemy launched an air attack... targeting a car assembly factory in the industrial area of Hassia in Homs province" and a military position in Hama, state news agency SANA said, citing a military source.
Hassia is about 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of the city of Hama.
"The losses were limited to material damage," the report said.
Citing the manager of the industrial area in Hassia, SANA reported the attack targeted not only the factory but also vehicles "loaded with medical and relief supplies... which led to a large fire" that firefighters were working to extinguish.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said an "Iranian car factory" in Hassia was targeted "directly", while the strikes in Hama province targeted an area home to air defences and government troops.
Since Syria's civil war erupted in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in the country, mainly targeting army positions and Iran-backed fighters, including Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes in Syria, but have repeatedly said they will not allow arch-enemy Iran to expand its presence there.
The attack came after state media said Israeli bombardment on Wednesday killed a policeman in southern Syria near the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, in a raid the Israeli army said killed a figure from Hezbollah inside Syria.
A day earlier, a strike blamed on Israel in the Damascus neighbourhood of Mazzeh killed seven civilians, authorities said, while the Observatory said the strike targeted a building used by Iran's Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah.
On Sunday, the Syrian defence ministry said Israel had launched air strikes on military positions in central Syria, reporting "material losses" but no casualties.
Iran and Hezbollah have been among the Syrian government's most important allies in the country's more than decade-old civil war.
Israeli strikes on Syria have intensified recently, including in areas near the border with neighbouring Lebanon, where Israel has been carrying out heavy air raids, saying it is targeting Hezbollah sites.
With AFP
Comments