DAMASCUS: An Israeli missile strike wounded two Syrian soldiers near Damascus on Saturday, the official SANA news agency reported after explosions were heard in the Syrian capital.

“The Israeli enemy fired a salvo of surface-to-surface missiles from northern occupied Palestine targeting positions near Damascus,” SANA said, quoting an unnamed military official.

“Our anti-aircraft defences were activated and were able to hit some of the enemy missiles,” the source said, adding that the attack wounded two soldiers and caused damage.

AFP correspondents in Damascus heard multiple explosions at around midday.

Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Israel has routinely carried out air strikes inside Syria, mostly targeting Syrian government troops as well as allied Iranian and Lebanese forces.

It is rare for the Jewish state to carry out strikes on Syrian targets during daylight hours.

The Israeli military rarely acknowledges individual strikes but has said repeatedly that it will not allow Syria to become a stronghold of its arch-foe Iran.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Saturday's raid destroyed arms and ammunition depots belonging to Iranian forces and allied militias in Qudsaya and Dimas.

Israel has targeted these positions in the past.

On October 14, an Israeli air strike on Iranian positions in central Syria killed nine fighters allied to the Syrian government.