DAMASCUS – Syria on Sunday accused Israel of targeting an air base in thecentral Homs province, saying its defences hit a jet involved in the attack.

“Our air defences are responding to an Israeli aggression and interceptinga number of missiles targeting the airport, hitting one of the attackingplanes and forcing the rest to leave the airspace,” the official SANA newsagency quoted a military source as saying.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for HumanRights, told AFP that a missile bombardment targeted “Iranian fighters” atthe T-4 base.

The facility has previously been targeted by strikes Damascus blamed onIsrael.

In addition to the Syrian army, Iranian fighters and Lebanese Hezbollahtroops are also stationed at the air base, according to the Observatory.

On April 9, missiles targeted the T-4 air base in the central province ofHoms, killing up to 14 fighters, including seven Iranians.

Moscow, Tehran and Damascus accused Israel of carrying out those raids.

The air base was also hit on February 10, after Israel accused Iranianforces at the T-4 base of sending a drone into Israeli territory.

After bombing Iranian units in Syria in retaliation, an Israeli F-16 wasshot down by Syrian anti-aircraft fire in an escalation in the conflict.

Israel then carried out what it called “large-scale” raids on Syrian airdefence systems and Iranian targets, which reportedly included T-4.

Since the start of Syria’s civil war in 2011, Israel has repeatedlytargeted positions of the Syrian army and Lebanon’s Shiite movementHezbollah backing it inside the country.

Israel usually does not claim the strikes, but has long said it will notallow Iran to establish a military presence in Syria.

Israel seized a large swathe of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967Six-Day War and later annexed it in 1981, in a move never recognised by theinternational community.

The two countries are technically still at war. – APP/AFP