Syria reports several civilians killed and injured in Israeli attacks in Homs

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DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Israeli airstrikes on the central city of Homs and nearby areas killed and wounded civilians, the Syrian military said Wednesday.

Israel did not immediately comment.

Tuesday night’s attacks damaged public and private property, an unnamed military officer told Syrian state news agency SANA, without giving further details. Israeli fighters reportedly attacked the Syrian city and rural areas from the Mediterranean Sea, near the Lebanese coastal city of Tripoli.

The bombings came amid tensions in the Middle East, with a war between Israel and Hamas and a Jan. 28 drone strike that killed three U.S. service members and wounded dozens more in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border. .

Pro-government broadcaster Sham FM said the areas attacked included the Al-Malaab neighborhood and Hamra Street. Israel hit farmland in Al-Waer, setting fires but leaving no victims.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based opposition body that monitors the war, reported at least six civilians dead, including a woman and a child, as well as two militiamen from the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. All of the victims were in a building on Hamra Street that was apparently the target of one of the projectiles, he said. The Observatory said rescue efforts were underway.

At least nine explosions were heard in and around Homs, where Hezbollah reportedly operates, the group added.

In recent years, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against targets in government-controlled areas in war-torn Syria.

Israel does not typically acknowledge its operations in Syria, although it has said it attacks bases of armed groups allied with Iran such as Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces. It has also attacked members of the Revolutionary Guard, an Iranian paramilitary body, in Syria, including a high-ranking general killed last December.