There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

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

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

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

There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

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

Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of attacks in Syria targeting government troops as well as allied Iranian forces and fighters from the Lebanese group, Hezbollah.

It is rare for Israel to claim responsibility for such raids.