Syrian state media: Israel carried out airstrikes on west Damascus By Weedah Hamzah and Khalil Hamlo, dpa
Written by Malek

Damascus (dpa) - Israeli planes fired two rockets at the outskirts of Damascus early Wednesday, state media reported, citing a Syrian military source. The planes fired the rockets from Lebanese airspace into the Sabora area, the state-run Syrian News Agency (SANA) reported.

Earlier in the day, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a pro-Syrian regime website said loud blasts, believed to be the result of Israeli airstrikes, rocked areas west of the Syrian capital. "We believe they are Israeli strikes ... carried out from over the Lebanese territories and hit a Syrian post in the area of Sabora on the outskirts of Damascus," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said. 

Reports about the airstrikes have been contradictory. The pro-Syrian regime website Dimashq al-An [Damascus Now] said that four loud explosions were heard along Damascus‘ outskirts a little after midnight. The website reported that the blasts were the result of "an aerial Zionist aggression" which targeted a Syrian post on the Beirut-Damascus highway and resulted in no loss of life. Israel hasn‘t confirmed the attacks. Two raids took place, one hitting an arms depot, the pro-Hezbollah Mullhak website reported, citing its own sources.

The second raid hit cars near the Beirut-Damascus highway setting them ablaze, according to Mullhak.

The raids didn‘t hit any security or political leaders, it added.

Israel usually does acknowledge its strikes in Syria, but its leaders have always warned that they will target any arms shipment heading to Hezbollah in Lebanon via Syria.

On Monday, Israel‘s air force attacked an Islamic State base of operations on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, the Israeli army said.

The bombing of the abandoned UN building, which had been converted into a base of operations, came a day after gunmen from a terrorist group associated with Islamic State, Shuhada al-Yarmouk, opened fire on Israeli forces in the region.