A damaged building is seen in the Qudsaya suburb of Damascus, capital of Syria, Feb. 9, 2022, as a result of the Israeli strikes that targeted military sites in Damascus earlier on Wednesday.(Photo: Xinhua)

Three Syrian soldiers were killed Thursday in an Israeli air strike near the capital Damascus, according to Syria's state media.

It was the fourth reported time in February Israel has launched strikes inside Syria, keeping up a campaign against pro-Iranian forces supporting the Damascus government in the more than decade-old civil war.

"The Israeli enemy carried out an air assault with several missiles," state news agency SANA reported, adding three soldiers were killed.

It said Syrian air defenses intercepted most of the missiles in the attack.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which has an extensive network of sources across the country, reported that explosions were heard in Damascus and its suburbs "after the interception of Israeli missiles by the Syrian regime's anti-aircraft defense."

It follows strikes in recent days on a town near the Golan Heights, a Syrian military post on February 17, and an assault against anti-aircraft batteries at the start of February.

Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes inside the country, targeting government positions as well as allied Iran-backed forces and fighters of the Shiite militant movement Hezbollah.

While Israel rarely comments on individual strikes in Syria, it has acknowledged mounting hundreds since 2011.

According to a report by the Israeli army, it hit around 50 targets inside its northern neighbor's territory in 2020.

In 2021, Israel targeted Syria roughly 30 times, killing 130 people including five civilians and 125 loyalist fighters, according to SOHR figures.

AFP