Syrian air defences opened fire on "enemy targets" near Damascus on Tuesday, according to state media, with a war monitor reporting an Israeli air strike.
The official SANA news agency and the state broadcaster both reported that air defences opened fire on "enemy targets" to "confront" them, without giving further details.
SANA said "a number of enemy targets were downed" by the air defences.
Smoke rises past a mountain as seen from the Damascus countryside on December 25. Source: Reuters
"It's an Israeli raid," said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
"Missiles fired from Israeli planes targeted... arms depots southwest and south of Damascus that belong to Hezbollah or Iranian forces," Abdel Rahman said.
Israel has carried out dozens of air strikes in neighbouring Syria against what it says are Iranian targets, many of them in the area south of Damascus.
An object glitters above Damascus. According to Syria's official news agency SANA, Syrian air defenses intercepted hostile objects. Source: AP
SANA said "a number of enemy targets were downed" by the air defences. Source: AP
At the end of November Syria said its air defences had targeted and downed a number of "hostile targets" over the Kisweh area south of Damascus.
In early December SANA and state television reported that Syrian air defences had opened fire near Damascus airport but later both state media outlets withdrew the report without explanation.
