Israel's military said on Tuesday it had intercepted four incoming rockets from Syria with blasts heard shortly after in Damascus, a week after another Israeli strike targeted a top Palestinian militant in the capital.
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Israeli air defence systems captured the projectiles, officials said, and no harm was caused to Israeli communities in the Golan Heights after warning sirens awoke residents early morning.
There was no immediate comment from Syria but SANA state news agency reported explosions near Damascus International Airport, indicating a potential Israeli retaliatory strike.
The rare rocket fire comes a week after an Israeli air strike against a top Palestinian militant based in Syria. Akram al-Ajouri, a member of the leadership of the militant Islamic Jihad group who is living in exile, survived the attack but his son and granddaughter were killed.
Israel frequently strikes Iranian interests in Syria but last week's strike appeared to be a rare assassination attempt of a Palestinian militant in the Syrian capital.
It came the same day as another Israeli air strike killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza, settling off the fiercest round of fighting there in years.
It all comes amid heightened tensions between Israel and Iranian proxies along its borders.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a series of warnings recently about Iranian aggression throughout the Middle East.
Iran has forces based in Syria, Israel's northern neighbour, and supports Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. In Gaza, it supplies Islamic Jihad with cash, weapons and expertise.
Netanyahu also has claimed Iran is using Iraq and far-off Yemen, where Tehran supports Shiite Houthi rebels at war with a Saudi-led coalition backing the government, to plan attacks against Israel.
Australian Associated Press
