Israel launches missile strikes on Syrian town south of Damascus

This is the second Israeli assault on Syria this month after it hit anti-aircraft batteries on February 9

Smoke billows after an Israeli air strike in Damascus in 2020. Israel launched several surface-to-surface missiles towards the south of the Syrian capital on Wednesday. AFP

Israel carried out missile strikes on a town south of Syria's capital Damascus on Wednesday evening, Syrian state media reported.

Several surface-to-surface missiles were launched from the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, aimed at the town of Zakiya and causing material damage, Sana said.

It is the second Israeli strike on Syria this month, after the country hit anti-aircraft batteries on February 9 in response to a missile fired from Syria.

"The Israeli enemy carried out a strike with several surface-to-surface missiles" at around 11.35pm, the report said, citing a military source.

A war monitor said the target of Wednesday's shelling was a Syrian army post.

"The shelling targeted a regime military post," Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.

The UK-based monitor relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria.

In January, Israeli missiles hit at an area near Damascus, Sana reported, with the missiles coming from the skies over eastern Lebanon.

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

Israel has repeatedly said it is seeking to prevent Iran from extending a footprint in Syria.