Israel kills, wounds many in Syria

An Israeli missile attack on the Masyaf area in Syria's Hama countryside has killed five and injured seven including a child, regime media reported, citing a military statement.

The attack began at 2023 local time (1723 GMT) on late Friday and originated from the West Banyas direction, the statement added.

It said one of those killed was a civilian.

An Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment.

The missiles sparked fires in forest areas in Masyaf and left some material damage, Syrian regime media reported.

Two opposition sources and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strikes targeted weapons depots belonging to pro-Assad forces. 

Syrian regime TV did not specify whether the area hit was a military zone.

READ MORE: Israel 'strikes' Syrian regime positions near Damascus

Targeting Hezbollah

While Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria, it has acknowledged mounting hundreds since 2011, targeting government positions as well as allied Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah-linked armed groups.

The Israeli military has defended them as necessary to prevent its arch-foe Iran from gaining a foothold on its doorstep.

In March, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that an Israeli rocket strike had killed two Guard officers in Syria.

The IRGC is the ideological arm of the Iranian military and the elite Quds Force is the Guard's foreign operations arm, listed as a terrorist group by the US.

Iran says it has deployed its forces in Syria at the invitation of Damascus and only as advisers.

The conflict in Syria started in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful protests and escalated to pull in foreign powers and terrorists.

It has killed nearly 500,000 people and displaced half of the country's population.

Russia's military intervention in the Syria conflict in 2015 is what turned the momentum in favour of Assad, whose forces once only controlled a fifth of the country.

RAED MORE: Civilian deaths after Israeli air strikes near Syria's Damascus