Israeli strikes kill four civilians in Syria

Four civilians, including two children, were killed by Israeli strikes on the Syrian province of Hama at dawn on Friday.

The Syrian state news agency SANA reported that a Syrian military source as saying that the country's air defences responded to Israeli missiles in the central province, "intercepting most" of them.

It later said "the Israeli aggression resulted in the martyrdom of a family, including a father, mother and two children", adding another four people were wounded and three houses destroyed on the western edges of Hama city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Israeli raids targetted Syrian military sites and resulted in the "destruction" of five of them in an area of Hama where Iran-backed fighters are present.

The civilians were, however, killed by "debris from one of the Syrian anti-aircraft defence missiles that fell on a house in a densely populated neighbourhood".

Israeli strikes on eastern Syria killed 57 government and allied fighters on January 13, in the deadliest raids since the Jewish state launched its air assault on targets in the war-torn country, the Observatory said.

Israel routinely carries out raids in Syria, mostly against targets linked to Iran in what it says is a bid to prevent its arch foe from consolidating a foothold on its northern border.