Seven fighters killed in Israeli strikes on Syria

The Syrian air defences responded to Israeli strikes on southern, central and eastern Syria, the army said on Tuesday in what military defectors and intelligence sources said was a wave of raids that targeted Iranian bases.

Seven fighters, including two Syrian soldiers, were killed in the strikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"Five pro-Iranian fighters were killed in a strike on a military centre belonging to pro-Tehran militias" on the Sokhna-Deir Ezzor road in eastern Syria, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahmane said.

He said many others were injured, with several in critical condition.

Two air force soldiers were killed in another raid on a telecommunications centre in the southern Sweida province, he said.

The army said Israeli jets hit an army outpost in Salamiya and another in Sabura towns in Hama province only hours after missiles struck other military installations in Deir Ezzor province along the border with Iraq and in southern Syria near the border with Jordan.

Syrian media also confirmed the raids.

"Several hostile missiles were fired at our military positions in Kababej, west of Deir Ezzor and in the Al-Sukhna region," a military source told the official Sana news agency, using Damascus' common term for Israeli attacks.

"At the same time, one of our military positions was targeted near the town of Salkhad in the southern city of Sweida, resulting in the death of two martyrs and the wounding of four other soldiers," the source said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the military "does not comment on foreign (media) reports".

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011.

It has targeted government troops, allied Iranian forces and fighters from the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

It rarely confirms details of its operations in Syria, but says Iran's presence in support of President Bashar Al  Assad is a threat and that it will continue its strikes.

In early June, Israeli strikes killed at least nine fighters loyal to the Syrian regime, including four Syrians, in Hama province – a central region controlled by the Syrian army and Iranians, according to the Observatory.