Israel launches airstrike near Syrian city of Homs

Israel has launched an airstrike near Homs, a Syrian city controlled by government forces. The Syrian agency Sana reported this on Sunday, citing a military source.

The agency said that Syrian air defences intercepted some of the missiles in the countryside north of Homs but that there was "material" damage.

On 14 June, Israel also carried out an airstrike near Damascus, injuring a Syrian soldier. According to the Syrian Human Rights Observatory, which is based in the UK but has a large network of sources in Syria, the bombings "targeted a weapons depot of pro-Iran fighters and caused a fire".

Since the start of the war in neighbouring Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of bombings on Syrian territory. Targets such as Bashar al-Assad's Syrian Armed Forces were struck in addition to several positions of Iranian troops and fighters from the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. Israel rarely commented on the attacks but has already admitted that the aim is to curb Tehran's growing influence in Syria.

These recent missile strikes coincide with ongoing protests in Israel, where tens of thousands of people are again demonstrating against the justice reform that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to implement.

The protests started in January after the new, right-wing extremist government announced that it would limit the powers of the Supreme Court in favour of parliament.

^©AFP