The Syrian army said on Friday that Israeli missile strikes caused a series of explosions at an airbase outside Damascus before dawn.

"In a desperate attempt to support terrorist organisations, Israeli enemy aircraft launched missiles from the north of Lake Tiberias (the Sea of Galilee) at 00:25 am (2225 GMT Thursday)," a military source told the state SANA news agency.

"The Syrian armed forces warns the Israeli enemy of the repercussions of this blatant aggression, and insists on continuing the war on terrorism to eliminate it," the source added.

The Israeli army had no comment on the strikes when contacted by AFP earlier on Friday.

An AFP correspondent heard several explosions and saw a large fire inside the Mazzeh airbase on the western outskirts of Damascus, with smoke visible across the capital.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said there had been eight blasts around the base as missiles hit ammunition warehouses.

Since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, the government has accused Israel of carrying multiple strikes on its territory, including in the Mazzeh area.

Several have targeted Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, an Israeli archfoe whose fighters have been supporting the Syrian army against rebels whom the government of President Bashar al-Assad regards as "terrorists."

Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating war in 2006.

Israel raids on Syria, Hezbollah targets since 2013
Beirut (AFP) Jan 13, 2017 - Syria's army accused Israel of carrying out missile strikes early Friday on an airbase near Damascus -- the latest in a series of attacks in recent years.

Israel often targets positions linked to the powerful Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Here is a recap of notable strikes:

-- 2013 --

- January 30: Israeli planes hit a surface-to-air missile site and military complex near Damascus suspected of holding chemical agents. A US official says Israel feared the transfer of weapons from Syria to Hezbollah.

- May 3: A raid near Damascus targets Iranian weapons destined for Hezbollah, a senior Israeli official says.

- May 5: A raid hits a scientific research centre in Damascus, a weapons depot and an aircraft unit, according to a diplomat in Beirut. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 42 soldiers are killed.

--2014--

- February 25: A Lebanese security source says two Israeli raids hit a Hezbollah target on the Lebanon-Syria border. The Observatory calls the target a Hezbollah "missile base".

- June 23: Israel stages retaliatory air raids on Syrian army positions following an attack from Syria.

- September 23: Israel downs a Syrian fighter jet as it tries to cross the Golan ceasefire line.

- December 7: Syria's army accuses Israel of striking two regime-held areas in Damascus province.

-- 2015 --

- January 18: Six Hezbollah fighters and an Iranian general are killed in an Israeli strike on the Syrian side of the Golan. Hezbollah retaliates several days later by killing two Israeli soldiers.

- July 29: An air strike on a government-held village on the Syrian side of the Golan kills two Hezbollah militants and three pro-regime fighters, the Observatory says.

- August 20: Israel launches strikes on 14 Syrian army positions on the Golan in response to rockets fired on Israel's northern Galilee region. One person is killed, the Syrian military says.

- August 21: An Israeli strike on the Syrian side of the Golan kills five, Syrian state television says.

- December 19: Hezbollah figure Samir Kantar dies in an Israeli raid near Damascus, the group says later. Kantar had spent almost 30 years in Israeli prisons.

-- 2016 --

- April 11: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admits that Israel has attacked dozens of weapons convoys in Syria that were destined for Hezbollah.

- September 13: Israeli aircraft strike Syrian army positions for the fourth time in nine days after a projectile fired from Syria hits the Israeli-held zone of the Golan. Israel denies a Syrian claim to have downed an Israeli warplane and a drone.

- December 7: Several Israeli missiles smash targets near the Mazzeh airbase outside Damascus, a week after a similar attack in the Sabbura area west of the capital.

-- 2017 --

- January 13: The Syrian army says Israeli missile strikes have again targeted the Mazzeh base. The Observatory says they hit ammunition depots.