'Civilians among 11 dead in Israel strikes on Syria'

BEIRUT — Six civilians were among 11 people killed in Israeli air strikes on the central Syrian city of Homs early Wednesday, a war monitor said.

"Ten people, including six civilians and two Hizbollah 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.

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.

Three students and a woman were among the dead, two of whom have yet to be identified, Abdel Rahman added.

Two Hizbollah fighters were among the dead, a source to the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group confirmed to AFP.

The Syrian defence ministry gave no precise casualty figures. "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.

State television aired footage of rescue teams searching the rubble of a collapsed building for survivors.