Israeli warplanes strike Syria

Israel has launched air strikes in Syria at a shipment of Iranian-made guided missiles. Source: AAP

ISRAELI warplanes have struck areas in and around the Syrian capital, setting off a series of explosions as they targeted a shipment of highly accurate, Iranian-made guided missiles believed to be on their way to Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, officials and activists say.

The attack, the second in three days, signalled a sharp escalation of Israel's involvement in Syria's bloody civil war. Syria's state media reported that Israeli missiles struck a military and scientific research centre near the Syrian capital and caused casualties.

An intelligence official in the Middle East, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Israel launched an airstrike in Damascus early on Sunday but did not give more precise details about the location.

The target was Fateh-110 missiles, which have very precise guidance systems with better aim than anything Hezbollah has in its arsenal, the official told The Associated Press.

The airstrikes came as Washington considers how to respond to indications that the Syrian regime may have used chemical weapons in its civil war.

President Barack Obama has described the use of such weapons as a "red line", and the administration is weighing its options - including possible military action.

Israel has said it wants to stay out of the brutal Syrian war, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated he would be prepared to take military action to prevent sophisticated weapons flowing from Syria to Hezbollah or other extremist groups.

Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in mid-2006 that ended in a stalemate.

Syria's state news agency SANA reported that explosions went off at the Jamraya military and scientific research centre near Damascus and said "initial reports point to these explosions being a result of Israeli missiles".

SANA said there were casualties but did not give a number.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group, reported large explosions in the area of Jamraya, a military and scientific research facility northwest of Damascus, about 15km from the Lebanese border.

Hezbollah's al-Manar TV said the research centre in Jamraya was not hit. It added that an army supply centre was the target of the strike.

Al-Manar quoted unnamed Syrian security officials as saying that three sites, including military barracks, arms depots and an air defence centre had been targeted by the strike.

Uzi Rubin, a missile expert and former defence ministry official, told the AP that if the target were Fateh-110 missiles as reported, then it was a game changer as they put almost all Israel in range and could accurately hit targets.

Rubin emphasised that he was speaking as a rocket expert and had no details on reported strikes.

He said the rockets were much five times more accurate than the Scud missiles that Hezbollah has fired in the past.

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