DAMASCUS – Two Israeli missiles struck targets near Damascus airport earlyTuesday, Syrian state media said, while a monitoring group said they hitarms depots for Hezbollah.

In a report in the early hours of Tuesday, Syria’s state news agency Sanasaid “two Israeli missiles came down near Damascus international airport”.

The head of monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, RamiAbdel Rahman, also told AFP that “the Israeli missiles hit arms depots forHezbollah near the airport”.

He said the air strike took place at 1:00 am local time “without causinghuge explosions” even though they hit the weapons stores.

The observatory added that the Syrian air defence “failed to intercept themissiles”.

When contacted by AFP, a spokesman for the Israeli army said: “We do notcomment on foreign reports.”

Israel has warned of a growing Iranian military presence in neighbouringSyria, which it sees as a threat to its safety.

Its military has been carrying out strikes on Iranian and Iran-affiliatedtargets in Syria, with a US official saying it was Israeli forces thatcarried out a deadly strike against an Iraqi paramilitary base in easternSyria on June 17.

Israeli seized a large swathe of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967Six-Day War and later annexed it, in a move never recognised by theinternational community. – APP/AFP