DAMASCUS — Syrian air defences intercepted several Israeli missiles fired at targets in the centre of the war-torn country late on Tuesday, state media said.

"The air defences shot down a number of missiles before they reached their targets," official news agency SANA reported, without identifying the targets in Homs province.

The rockets were fired by the Israeli air force from Lebanese airspace, it quoted a military source as saying.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the target was a military airport where Iranian forces are present.

Contacted by AFP, an Israeli army spokeswoman declined to comment. Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria targeting government troops as well as allied Iranian forces and fighters from Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

It is rare for Israel to claim responsibility for such strikes directly.

The Jewish state says Iran's presence in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad is a threat and that it will continue its strikes. — AFP