Israeli missiles targeted positions in Homs in central Syria on Tuesday, Syrian state media reported.

Ground defenses prevented a number of missiles from reaching their targets, the report said.

"Our ground defenses confronted Israeli aggression which came from Lebanese airspace," the regime-run news agency SANA said.

Lebanese security sources said Israeli planes were heard hovering across areas in north Lebanon.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the target was a military airport where Iranian forces are present.

Contacted by AFP, an Israeli army spokeswoman declined to comment.

Since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria targeting government troops as well as allied Iranian forces and fighters from Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

It is rare for Israel to claim responsibility for such strikes directly.

The Jewish state says Iran's presence in Syria in support of the Assad regime is a threat and that it will continue its strikes.

Notably, the Iran-backed terror group and Lebanese Hezbollah are stationed alongside regime forces in Homs.

Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has launched many airstrikes on the regime's military sites and Iranian-backed groups.