"Our air defences intercepted an Israeli attack," Syrian state news agency SANA said.

It added they had downed "a number of missiles... over Damascus".

There was no immediate report of any casualties.

AFP reporters heard explosions above the capital, which official media said was the air defences responding to the attack.

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

Israel rarely confirms strikes in Syria, but the Jewish state's army has said it hit about 50 targets in the war-torn country last year, without providing details.

In late February, Israeli air strikes targeted the area of Sayyida Zeinab south of Damascus, where Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Lebanese Hezbollah are present, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, without reporting any casualties.