"Syrian air defences intercepted hostile targets over the skies of rural Homs," the official SANA news agency said without providing additional details.

The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul Rahman, said Israeli aircraft struck the T4 air base in Homs province.

They targeted a drone depot at the facility, he told AFP.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has routinely carried out raids inside Syria, mostly targeting Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces as well as Syrian government troops.

The Israeli army rarely acknowledges individual strikes but has said repeatedly that it will not allow Syria to become a stronghold of its arch-foe Iran.