ISRAELI air strikes targeted Syria’s capital Damascus late yesterday, Syrian state media report.

Syrian air defences responded to the strikes in the vicinity of Damascus and shot down some of them, state news agency Sana reported. The attack caused only material damage, it said.

The last Israeli air strike on Syria was on May 2, targeting the international airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. The attack killed one Syrian soldier and put the airport out of commission, state media said at the time.

There was no immediate statement from Israeli authorities regarding the latest strikes.

Britain-based opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israeli missiles had targeted sites used by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is allied with the Syrian government, and that ambulances had taken away people wounded in the strikes.

It said the attack was the 17th by Israel on Syrian territory since the beginning of the year.

Israel rarely makes comments on its military operations but Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told a security conference earlier this month that the new Israeli government has greatly increased the number of strikes on Iranian targets since taking office late last year.