Syrian air defences thwarted an Israeli missile attack on a research centre and a military base in the northern province of Aleppo in the second such raid in less than a week, state media said on Monday.
The Syrian regime army said in a statement that Israel hit military barracks in al Safirah in the eastern Aleppo countryside. Earlier, state television had said a research centre was targeted.
A regional intelligence source said Israel was stepping up raids in Syria at a time when world attention and the region, including Syria, were distracted by the coronavirus pandemic.
An Israeli army spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.
The raids caused "violent explosions" in the area, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor that relies on a network of sources inside Syria.
The Observatory said strikes targeted weapons depots belonging to pro-Iran militias and Syrian government forces.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Minutes later, warplanes hit positions of pro-Iran militias in the Mayadeen desert in eastern Syria, according to the Observatory.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible but the Observatory said it was "likely" to be Israel.
If confirmed, the strikes would mark the fifth Israeli attack on Syria in two weeks.
Israel rarely confirms details of its operations in Syria but says Iran's presence in support of Bashar al-Assad is a threat and that it will continue its strikes.
Israeli forces hit a Hezbollah missile depot in central Syria Friday hours after Israeli helicopters fired missiles at sites in southern Syria.
Western intelligence sources say Iranian-backed militias have long been entrenched in Aleppo province where they have bases and a command centre, part of a growing presence across regime-controlled Syria.
Israeli helicopters fired several rockets from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on targets inside southern Syria known to be a base for Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, Syria and intelligence sources said.
The Syrian regime does not say Iranian bases are targeted when it announces details of Israeli raids.
Israel has acknowledged in recent years it has conducted many raids inside Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011 where it sees Iran’s presence as a strategic threat.
Israeli defence minister Naftali Bennett told Israeli media last week that Israel would step up its campaign against Iran in Syria.
(Agencies)
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