One Syrian soldier killed, three wounded in Israeli air attack

Cairo: One Syrian soldier was killed and three others wounded in an Israeli air attack on Syria’s Palmyra area in the province of Homs on Wednesday evening, the Syrian defence ministry said.

The attack took place at 11.34pm local time (12.34am Thursday) and targeted a communications tower and caused some material losses, it added in a short statement on its Facebook page.

The incident came days after Syrian state media reported that Syrian air defenses intercepted an Israeli missile attack above the Homs countryside, wounding six Syrian soldiers and causing some material damage.

Israel has for several years been mounting attacks on what it has described as Iranian-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran-backed forces including Lebanon’s Hezbollah have put down a presence since deploying to help President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian conflict that erupted in 2011.