"At approximately 5:18 pm (14:15 GMT), the Israeli enemy launched an air aggression from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, targeting several civilian sites south of Damascus, which led to some material losses," the official SANA news agency said, citing a military source.

Mehdi Mahfouz, a 34-year-old resident, said he "heard three successive explosions, one of which was very strong."

"Then I saw a large black cloud of smoke rising," he added.

Explosions were also heard in the neighbouring suburb of Jaramana, according to an AFP photographer, who reported ambulances heading to the scene.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor close to the Syrian opposition, reported at least three strikes in the area. The monitor claimed the targets included a house "used by members of Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard," situated on a farm in the Sayyeda Zeinab area.

Israel has conducted hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, with operations intensifying amid Israel’s current war on Lebanon.

Israeli authorities rarely comment on individual strikes.