THE number of people killed in Israeli strikes in Syria has risen to 14 with more than 40 wounded, Syrian media said yesterday.

The Israelis have also continued to carry out military raids in the occupied West Bank, as well as the continuing devastation of Gaza.

Israeli strikes in central Syria hit several areas late on Sunday, damaging a highway in Hama province and sparking fires, Syrian news agency Sana said. 

The initial death count reported by the Masyaf National Hospital in western Hama province was four.

Sana, citing hospital head Faysal Haydar, said 14 were killed and 43 wounded.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said at least four of those killed were civilians.

One of the strikes targeted a scientific research centre in Masyaf and others struck sites where “Iranian militias and experts are stationed to develop weapons in Syria,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. 

Local media also reported strikes around the coastal city of Tartous.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations. 

The Israelis claim to only target Syrian forces or Iranian backed groups, although many civilians have been killed.

Israel has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria, particularly since Syria is a key route for Iran to send weapons to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has clashed with Israeli forces for the past 11 months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas — an ally of Hezbollah — in Gaza.

Meanwhile Israeli forces have continued raids on the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

The Wafa news agency says the Israelis stormed Tulkarem and Balata.

Tulkarem recently witnessed an intense 10-day Israeli military operation, one of the largest seen in decades.

Military bulldozers were also deployed in the Israeli raid on Balata, during which, Wafa says.

The raids sparked clashes between local Palestinians and the occupying forces.

The Israelis are also continuing their decades long devastation of the infrastructure in Gaza.

Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, has published a new report which explains how the Israelis have spent more than 70 years destroying the Palestinian food system by devastating orchards and farms, and by harassing and killing peasants, fishers and shepherds.

He said: “In Gaza, malnutrition, famine, and disease are killing more people than bombs and bullets. This personal and social trauma is going to be carried by Palestinians for several generations in the future.”