Syrian air defenses countered the attack, which came from the Mediterranean Sea side and also caused material damage BEIRUT: Israeli airstrikes hit central and coastal regions of Syria early Saturday, killing four soldiers and wounding one, the Syrian military said. State media quoted an unidentified Syrian military official as saying that Israeli warplanes flying over the Mediterranean fired missiles toward military positions in coastal and central Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, reported that load explosions were heard in the coastal province of Latakia as well as Hama and Homs regions in central Syria. It gave no further details. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations. Israel has acknowledged, however, that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces. On Nov. 13, an Israeli strike on central Syria targeting the Shayrat air base killed two soldiers and wounded three.