Israeli fighter jets hit targets in Syria early on Friday, the official Syrian news agency Sana reported.
The agency cited military sources as saying that “the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from south-east Beirut, aiming at some targets” in the outskirts of the city of Damascus.
It said that Syrian air defences had responded to the attack and shot down most of the missiles, adding that the attack had only caused material damage.
The sound of the roaring Israeli planes flying at a low altitude over the areas in the outskirts of Beirut was heard at dawn on Friday, witnesses said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence in Syria, confirmed the attack.
It said the Israeli attack targeted military sites for the Syrian government forces used by pro-Iranian militias to develop weapons in Barzeh and Jamraya, rural areas near Damascus.
The watchdog said ambulances rushed to the targeted site and the area was cordoned off by Syrian security.
An Israeli army spokesman reached by dpa in Tel Aviv said “we do not comment on reports in foreign media.”
Later, the Israeli army said that a surface-to-air missile launched from Syrian territory towards Israeli air space had exploded over the Mediterranean Sea last night.
No siren went off.
In the morning hours, residents in central Israel located several fragments of the missile on the ground, which will be collected by the Israeli police.
“We thank the residents for their awareness and ask to avoid touching these parts,” the IDF said.
Israeli strikes in Syria have been seen as an attempt to prevent Iran, one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s main allies, from building up its military influence in the region.
