Israel strikes west of Syrian capital

Israeli strikes targeted a "residential building" west of the Syrian capital early on Saturday, a war monitor said, with state media reporting Syrian air defences responded to an Israeli "air attack".

Since Syria's civil war broke out in 2011, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its northern neighbour, mainly targeting Iran-backed forces, including Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions.

The strikes have increased since Israel's war with Hamas began on October 7.

The "Israeli attack" early on Saturday targeted "a residential building west of the Syrian capital Damascus", said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based war monitor, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria, reported the sound of "violent explosions" including from the Dimas area in Damascus province.

State news agency SANA cited a military source saying that at around 1:05 am (2205 GMT Friday), "the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting a number of points in the Damascus countryside".

Syria's military says Israeli airstrikes over the central city of Homs and nearby areas have killed civilian . AP

The strikes came hours after an area near a military airport west of Damascus came under missile attack on Friday, the Observatory said, while the defence ministry said drones had entered Syrian airspace from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Observatory had said "the area of the Mazzeh military airport west of the capital Damascus was targeted", without saying who was behind what it described as a "missile" attack.

"Positions belonging to Lebanon's Hezbollah and other pro-Iran groups are present" in the area, added the Observatory.

Syrian security forces gather near the rubble of a building that was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Syria. AP

A statement from the defence ministry said that at around 2:10 pm (1110 GMT) on Friday, "two drones violated Syrian air space from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan".

"Air defence systems confronted them and they were shot down west of Damascus," the statement added.

Neither source specified who was behind the incident.

Contacted by the media, the Israeli army said: "We do not comment on reports in the foreign media."

Agence France-Presse