Syria says its air defences intercept attack on airbase

Syria's air defences confronted an aerial "aggression" from Israel that targeted an air base in country's centre late Tuesday, state media reported quoting a military official.

official quoted by state news ncy SANA said attack targeted T-4 air base in Homs province shortly after 10 pm local time. official said attack only caused material dam to base, saying most rockets were intercepted while only four landed in targeted area.

re was immediate Israeli comment. Israel has carried out dozens of airstrikes on Syria over past years but it rarely comments on what it targets.

Israel is widely believed to have been behind airstrikes mainly targeting Iranian and Hezbollah forces in Syria that have joined country's war fighting alongside government.

attack on Tuesday comes during heightened tension after recent escalation between US and Iran, Damascus' main ally in region. A US airstrike in Baghd killed Iran's top general earlier in January. General Qassim Soleimani was main architect of Iran's policy in Syria, where thousands of allied fighters fought alongside President Bashar Ass's forces in country's civil war.

Russia anunced late last year that it h delivered S-300 air defence system to Syria. Russia, too, is a key ally of Ass, and its intervention in civil war, beginning in 2015, turned tide in his favour.