DAMASCUS, SYRIA -- Israel launched a missile attack on western Syria Sunday night and explosions were heard in the coastal region of the war-torn country, Syrian state media reported. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Syrian state TV reported that Israel's military targeted several positions in the province of Tartus without giving further details. The TV said the missiles were fired by warplanes flying over neighbouring Lebanon.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the Israeli strike targeted a Syrian army air defence base in the area of Abu Afsa. It added that Iran-backed fighters are usually in the base.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria over the past years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.
Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon's Hezbollah that sent thousands of fighters to fight alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces.
In June, Israeli airstrikes temporarily put Damascus International Airport out of commission.
