Israeli Air Force downs drone flying from Syria

Israeli airstrikes hit several sites in Syria’s Homs province early on April 2, wounding five soldiers, Syrian state media reported, per AP.

Hours later, the Israeli military said it shot down an “aircraft” that crossed from Syria into Israel’s airspace.

In Iran, state media reported that an Iranian adviser who was wounded in an Israeli strike on Friday died of his wounds. Since the start of Syria’s conflict in March 2011, Iran has been a main supporter of President Bashar Assad’s government and has sent advisers since the early days of the war.

The strike on April 2 marked the ninth time Israel has struck targets in Syria since the beginning of the year, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitor.

State news agency SANA, citing military sources, said the strikes targeted sites in the city of Homs and the surrounding countryside. Syrian air defences intercepted the missiles and shot down some of them, it said.

The observatory reported that the missiles targeted Syrian military sites and those of Iran-linked militias, including a research centre.

On April 2 night, the Israeli army said air force helicopters and fighter jets were deployed following an unidentified aircraft that seems to have crossed from the direction of Syria into Israeli territory. It added that the aircraft was monitored by the Israeli Air Force throughout the incident and it was later shot down.

There was no immediate statement from Israel on the strikes on Syria.