A 5.5 earthquake hit central Syria late on Monday, with the shock felt in neighbouring Lebanon, official media in both countries said. AFP journalists in Beirut and Damascus also said they felt the tremor. “An earthquake of 5.5 on the Richter scale struck east of Hama city at 11:56 pm,” the Syrian regime-run Sana news agency said, quoting Raed Ahmed, who heads the National Earthquake Centre. The United States Geological Survey said the quake that struck Syria had a magnitude of 5.0. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said “some residents of Beirut” and other areas “felt a light earthquak…