AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian air defences responded to Israeli strikes on southern and eastern Syria in which two soldiers were killed, the army said on Tuesday.



An army statement said several attacks occurred simultaneously, one at a military outpost in Kabajib, east of Deir Zor province and in the vicinity of the town of Sukhna in the nearby eastern desert.


A third strike hit a military installation farther south in the town of Salkhad, near the southern city of Sweida. Two soldiers died and four were wounded.


The bases are in zones in eastern and southern Syria which Israel had hit in recent months and which are believed to have a strong presence of Iranian-backed militias.


The Israeli army declined to comment.


Later the army said its air defences had downed several "hostile targets" in the airspace of Hama province in central Syria but did not say whether this was another Israeli strike that extended to another part of the country.


Regional intelligence sources say Israel’s strikes on Syria are part of a shadow war approved by Washington and part of the anti-Iran policy that has undermined in the last two years Iran’s extensive military power without triggering a major increase in hostilities.


Israel has acknowledged conducting many raids inside Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011 where it sees Iran’s presence as a strategic threat.


Israeli defence officials have said in recent weeks that their country would step up its campaign against Iran in Syria where, with the help of its proxy militias, Tehran has expanded its presence.