Israeli Strikes Kill Four in Syria

Israeli strikes on Syria's Homs killed four people including two civilians, a war monitor said, with Syria's defense ministry reporting an unspecified number of civilians dead and injured.

"Four people have been killed, including two civilians, in the Israeli strikes on Homs city," said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syria's defense ministry reported that "the Israeli enemy launched air strikes from the direction north of Tripoli (Lebanon) targeting a number of sites in the city of Homs and its countryside killing and injuring a number of civilians."

Syrian state television shared footage of rescuers rummaging through the rubble of what appears to be a collapsed building and carrying someone on a stretcher.

Abdel Rahman said that the building that was hit in Homs had completely collapsed.

Earlier, Syrian state television reported "an Israeli assault" on central Syria, in the Homs province.

Last week, the United States carried out strikes on Iran-backed groups in Syria and Iraq, killing dozens in retaliation for a deadly attack on its troops in Jordan.

In January, Israeli strikes near Damascus killed eight people, including pro-Iran fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had said.

During more than a decade of civil war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes in the country, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces as well as Syrian army positions.

But such attacks have intensified since the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas began on October 7.

Since 2011, Syria has endured a bloody conflict that has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions.