Powerful blasts heard in Damascus, Israeli military says they attacked 20 targets in Syria

Powerful explosions occurred in Syria's capital Damascus in the early hours of Wednesday, while the Israeli military said that it attacked about 20 targets in Syria on the same day.

The first explosions were heard at around 1:30 am (local time). They occurred in five-second intervals. A total of at least 20 blasts occurred and their frequency increased as time passed.

Syria's state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV reported that the country's air defence systems were countering an attack on Damascus and the surrounding area in the early hours of Wednesday.

Several missiles were shot down south of Damascus, the TV channel said.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on Wednesday that they had attacked about 20 targets in Syria.

"The attack was carried out in response to the launching of rockets by an Iranian force from Syria's territory into Israel, intending to strike Israeli territory," the IDF said in a statement, quoted by the Haaretz newspaper on Wednesday.

According to Haaretz, over half of the targets were Iranian headquarters and camps in Syria while the rest were Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries.

The National Defence Building at the Damascus airport was also hit, the Israeli newspaper said, specifying that the building houses the headquarters of the Iranian Quds Force.

On Tuesday, IDF said that Israeli air defence systems had intercepted four unspecified launches from Syria.