THE Syrian government reported fending off an Israeli air raid over Damascus yesterday and state TV reported a terrorist attack in the capital’s southern Qazaz neighbourhood.

Damascus residents say they heard five explosions on Sunday, apparently the sound of anti-aircraft fire.

Israeli war planes have exploited Lebanese air space recently to strike deep inside Syria, including an attack on a warehouse near Damascus’s international airport, according to Syrian state media.

Explosions have been rare in Damascus since government forces captured the last rebel-held areas of the capital last year. Blasts had left hundreds dead over the course of the nearly eight-year civil war.

Earlier this month Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel had struck hundreds of Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria. Damascus says Israeli attacks on Syria’s allies and sometimes on its own troops amount to effective assistance to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups it is fighting.