Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel carried out an air raid on Iranian weapons in Syria over the weekend, a rare public confirmation of such attacks.

"Just in the last 36 hours the air force attacked Iranian warehouses containing Iranian weapons in the Damascus international airport," Netanyahu said on Sunday at the start of a cabinet meeting, according to his office.

"The accumulation of recent attacks shows that we're more determined than ever to act against Iran in Syria, just as we promised," the prime minister's office said.

Syrian state media reported on Sunday that Israeli warplanes fired a number of missiles towards Damascus, with one striking a warehouse at the airport. The raids triggered Syrian air defence to shoot down most of them.

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Syrian state media broadcast footage of what it said was the air defence's firing, with bright lights seen shooting across the night sky. Explosions were heard in one of the videos.

Israel has mounted attacks in Syria as part of its efforts to counter the influence created by Iran, which is supporting President Bashar al-Assad in the war that erupted in 2011.

Many of them have been in the area south of Damascus.

Netanyahu has vowed not to let Tehran entrench itself militarily in the war-torn country.

The last Israeli attack reported by the state media was on December 25, when a missile attack wounded three Syrian soldiers.

A senior Israeli official said in September Israel had carried out more than 200 attacks against Iranian targets in Syria in the last two years.