<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Six civilians were among 10 people killed in Israeli air strikes on the central Syrian city of Homs early today, a war monitor said.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>“Ten people, including six civilians and two Hezbollah fighters, were killed in Israeli strikes on a building in the Hamra neighbourhood of Homs,” the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>The strikes completely levelled the building in one of the city’s most affluent districts, and also hit other targets linked to Iran-backed groups, Abdel Rahman said.</div><div><br></div><div>Three students and a woman were among the dead, two of whom have yet to be identified, Abdel Rahman added.</div><div><br></div><div>Two Hezbollah fighters were among the dead, a source to the Iran-backed Lebanese group confirmed to AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>The Syrian defence ministry gave no precise casualty figures.</div><div><br></div><div>“The Israeli enemy launched air strikes against a number of sites in Homs and its countryside … killing and wounding a number of civilians,” it said.</div><div><br></div><div>State television aired footage of rescue teams searching the rubble of a collapsed building for survivors.</div><div><br></div><div>Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on Syria, since civil war broke out in 2011.</div><div><br></div><div>It has stepped up its campaign against Iran-backed forces in its northern neighbour since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on Oct 7.</div><div><br></div><div>Last week, the US too carried out air strikes on Iran-backed groups in Syria and Iraq, killing 45 people in retaliation for a drone attack that killed three US soldiers in Jordan.</div><div><br></div><div>Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria but has said repeatedly that it will not allow Iran to expand its presence. - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>