Syrian state media says a series of Israeli strikes has hit multiple areas in central Syria, killing at least four people and wounding several others. 

State news agency SANA reported that Syrian air defences "confronted an aggression that targeted several points in the central region", damaging a highway in Hama province and sparking fires that firefighting teams were battling to control early on Monday. 

At least four dead and 13 wounded people arrived at the Masyaf National Hospital in western Hama province, SANA said, citing hospital head Faysal Haydar. 

It was not immediately clear if they were civilians or militants. 

Two regional intelligence sources said a major military research centre for chemical weapons production located near Misyaf was hit several times. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported other sites where "Iranian militias and experts are stationed to develop weapons in Syria" were also targeted. 

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 strikes often target Syrian forces or Iranian-backed groups. 

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 been clashing with Israeli forces for the past 11 months against the backdrop of Israel's war against Hamas — an ally of Hezbollah — in Gaza. 

Since the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians and soldiers, Israel has escalated its strikes on Iranian-backed militia targets in Syria and also struck Syrian army air defences and some Syrian forces.

In the most high-profile attack on Syria since the war in Gaza began, suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran's embassy in April, a strike that Iran said killed seven military advisers, including three senior commanders. 

ABC/wires