DAMASCUS: The sound of repeated explosions could be heard in the area around the Syrian capital before dawn on Sunday, state media and Damascus residents said.

There was no immediate statement from government officials on the source or target of the attack, but similar incidents in the past have usually been attributed to Israeli airstrikes, with Syrian air defenses responding to shoot down the missiles.

The latest such incident was on Aug. 7, when Syrian state media reported that Israeli airstrikes hit areas around Damascus, killing at least four Syrian army soldiers. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitor, said those strikes targeted weapons and munitions warehouses and positions of Iran-backed militias around Damascus.

Israel, which has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment next door, has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets in government-controlled parts of neighboring Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges them.

Israel has also targeted the international airports in Damascus and the northern Syrian city of Aleppo several times over the past few years, often putting it out of commission.

AP