Israel said its planes buzzed the summer residence of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the Mediterranean coastal city of Latakia, flying low enough to cause a noise on the ground.

Israeli officials said on condition of anonymity that Assad was targeted because of the "direct link" between Syria and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group holding Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, 19, in the Gaza Strip. Syria hosts Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' exiled supreme leader.

The Syrian state television report did not mention the overflight of Assad's residence, saying two Israeli planes flew "at a low altitude" near Syria's Mediterranean coast around dawn on Wednesday.

"The overflight by two Israeli planes near the Syrian shores is an aggressive act and a provocation," the television news said, quoting an unindentified Information Ministry official.

It said "national air defences opened fire in the direction of the planes, and they dispersed and left the area."

Israeli TV said four planes were involved in the overflight and that Assad was home at the time. Officials did not report that the jets came under fire from the Syrians.

The flyover was the second time Israel has buzzed Assad's summer palace. In August 2003, warplanes reportedly flew so low that windows in the palace shattered. At the time, Israel said the flyover was aimed at pressuring Assad to dismantle Palestinian militant groups based in his country.

In October 2003, Israeli warplanes bombed an Islamic Jihad training base deep in Syria. It was the first attack on Syrian soil in more than two decades. The airstrike followed a suicide bombing by Islamic Jihad that killed 19 Israelis in a restaurant.

But this would be a rare instance of the Syrian military firing back on Israeli forces. The two militaries clashed in Lebanon in the 1980s during that country's civil war. In 1996, Israeli warplanes launched heavy raids on positions in Beirut in reponse to Hezbollah rocket fire. During those raids, Israel said Syrian air defences in the Lebanese capital fired on its planes, so the Israeli air force demolished a Syrian base there.

But since then, the Syrians - whose military is far outmatched by Israel's - are not known to have fired on Israeli forces.

The overflight brought Syria into Israel's confrontation with Hamas over the abduction of 19-year-old Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit on Sunday. Israel accused Hamas' Mashaal of masterminding the kidnapping and has threatened to try to assassinate him.

Syria denied the Damascus-based Hamas leadership had any connection to the kidnapping.

"If the goal of this (overflight) is to blame the political leadership of Hamas for the abduction of the Israeli soldier, then Israel is making a big mistake that is goes beyond logic," the Information Ministry official said, according to the TV report.

The official said the abduction "is an operation that could not have taken place by remote control" by orders from the Damascus-based leadership.

He said the overflight "reflects Israel's failure and its domestic troubles, which it is trying to export to the outside as it makes accusations against others."

Hours after the overflight, Assad maintained his normal schedule, meeting in the afternoon with Lebanon's parliament speaker and Jordan's prime minister in Damascus. There was no sign of unusual military precautions in the Syrian capital.

The overflight brought criticism from one of Assad's top opponents, Lebanese prime minister Fuad Saniora. "This action is condemned. We condemn violation of any Arab country's airspace," Saniora told reporters today.