Israel jets 'kill family of four' in Syria

Israeli warplanes have fired several missiles toward central Syria, killing a family of four - including two children - and wounding four other people, state media report.

Syria's state-news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying the missile attack took place shortly before dawn when Israeli warplanes flew over neighbouring Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined to comment on the reports on Friday.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes against Iran-linked military targets in Syria in recent years but it rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.

The Syrian military official said the attack was aimed at several targets in and near the central province of Hama.

It added that Syrian air defence units shot down most of the missiles.

The official said the strike killed a family of four, including the parents and two children.

The strike also wounded four others, including two children, and destroyed three homes on the western edge of the provincial capital of Hama, SANA quoted the official as saying.

State TV said the family that was killed had been displaced by Syria's nearly 10-year conflict.

Syria's foreign ministry complained in a letter to the United Nations chief and the UN Security Council, calling the attack a "flagrant violation of Syria's sovereignty" and international law, SANA said.