BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli missiles struck a town in western Syria on Sunday, injuring three Syrian soldiers, according to the country’s official media.

The missiles were launched at dawn against Masyaf in Hama province, the official SANA news agency said, citing a military source. Syrian air defenses shot down several of the shells.

Syrian state media reported no deaths.

However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based opposition war monitor, said the attack targeted an Iranian-backed militia weapons depot and killed three soldiers, without specifying your side.

Israel did not immediately comment. The country has carried out hundreds of strikes against targets in Syria in recent years, but rarely acknowledges or comments on such operations. Israel says it will attack bases of militias allied with Iran, in particular the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has fighters deployed in Syria and is fighting alongside President Bashar Assad’s forces. Israel also says it is attacking arms shipments it believes are destined for the militias.

Further Israeli attacks on Masyaf in May and August 2022 left five dead and two injured. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that monitors the war, the attacks targeted the arsenals of Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Tehran-backed militias.

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