Photo shows air defence systems intercepting Israeli missiles over Syrian airspace   [File: SANA/AFP]

Damascus, November 9 (RHC)-- Syria’s military has said Israel carried out air raids on central and western provinces, wounding two soldiers and causing material damage, according to Syrian state media.

The military said Israeli warplanes fired missiles while flying over neighbouring Lebanon. It added that Syrian air defences shot down most of the Israeli missiles without elaborating.

State news agency SANA cited a military source saying two Syrian soldiers were wounded and some material losses were incurred.  Reports said earlier that air defences were intercepting “hostile targets” over the countryside around the city of Homs, after explosions were heard over Homs and the coastal city of Tartous.

“At about 7:16 pm (17:16 GMT) this evening, the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the direction north of Beirut,” the military said in a statement to SANA.

“Syrian air defences responded to the enemy’s missiles and shot down several of them,” the statement added, without giving further details.

Last month, a Syrian soldier was killed and three others were wounded after Israel carried out an aerial raid near the Palmyra area in the eastern countryside of Homs.  The aerial raids came amid an increase in reported attacks by Israel on Syria in recent weeks.

Israel has staged hundreds of attacks on Iran-linked military targets in Syria over the years but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.  Israel has acknowledged, however, that it is targeting bases of Iran-allied groups, such as the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah group.

Israel has said that an Iranian presence on its northern frontier is a red line, and it has repeatedly attacked what it has described as Iran-linked facilities and weapons convoys destined for Hezbollah.