Israel strikes 12 Syrian and Iranian targets in Syria

The Israeli military said on Saturday it launched a large scale attack against Syrian aerial defence systems and Iranian targets in Syria.

"Twelve targets, including three aerial defense batteries and four Iranian targets that are part of Iran's military establishment in Syria were attacked," the military said in a statement.

"During the attack, anti-aircraft missiles were fired towards Israel, triggering alarms that were heard in Northern Israel," the military said.

Israel's ambassador to Moscow said on Saturday Iranian-backed Hezbollah units and Shi'ite Muslim rebels should be immediately withdrawn from Syria's southern de-escalation zone, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

"We prefer to talk about the implementation of different agreements on the zones of de-escalation, in our case, in the south on the border with Israel," Interfax quoted Ambassador Harry Koren as saying.

"Specifically, any presence of Iranian units, Hezbollah and Shi'ite rebels should immediately be curtailed."