Syria says Israeli warplanes attacked area near Damascus

Israeli warplanes flying over Lebanon fired missiles toward areas near Damascus early on Monday, the Syrian military said, claiming the country's air defences shot most of them down.

The military said in a statement, which was carried by state media, that some of the missiles that made it to the target near the Syrian capital caused material damage but did not inflict any casualties.

According to the statement, the attack took place around dawn. The Syrian military gave no further details about the attack or what it targeted specifically. Syrian state TV said the attacks occurred near Damascus.

Israel rarely confirms attacks and it did not comment on the latest missiles strike. Israel has said, however, that it has been behind a series of airstrikes mainly targeting Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces in Syria that are alongside Syrian government forces.

Israel has also in the past used Lebanon's airspace to launch attacks on Syria. Last week, an Israeli airstrike targeted Iranian and Iran-backed fighters in the desert near the historic central Syrian town of Palmyra. A Syrian opposition war monitoring group said the strike killed nine fighters, including six who were not Syrians.