Syrian state media said early Thursday that Israel launched strikes against several targets near Damascus, triggering the country’s air defense systems.

“Our air defenses confronted an Israeli attack” west of the capital, said state news agency SANA, adding that the attack was carried out from airspace in the Israeli Golan Heights.

They “were able to shoot down most of the enemy missiles before they reached their targets,” SANA said.

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Defense analysts routinely dismiss such claims by the Syrian regime as empty boasts.

AFP correspondents in several districts of Damascus heard loud explosions around 1:15 a.m.

State television broadcast images showing explosions in the sky as Syrian anti-aircraft missiles detonated in the air.

According to SANA, the Israeli strikes targeted the al-Kiswah district — an area outside of Damascus that Israel has acknowledged striking in the past for its use as an Iranian base of operations — but also Marj al-Sultan and Jisr Baghdad.

At least three government and Iranian positions near Damascus and west of the capital had been targeted, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which said a fire broke out in one of the areas.

IDF Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman said he was aware of the “foreign reports” about airstrikes in Syria but declined to comment on the matter in accordance with long-standing Israeli policy.

According to SANA, the Israeli strikes targeted the al-Kiswah district — an area outside of Damascus that Israel has acknowledged striking in the past for its use as an Iranian base of operations — but also Marj al-Sultan and Jisr Baghdad.

In total, at least three government and Iranian positions near Damascus and west of the capital were targeted, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which said a fire broke out in one of the areas.

IDF Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman said he was aware of the “foreign reports” about airstrikes in Syria but declined to comment on the matter in accordance with long-standing Israeli policy.

Israel has long maintained that it would not tolerate efforts by Iran — a major ally of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad — to establish a permanent military presence in Syria and would take steps to thwart such entrenchment. Israel accuses Iran of seeking to set up a military presence in Syria that could be used as a launchpad for attacks against the Jewish state. Jerusalem has also vowed to retaliate to any attacks on Israel from Syria.

Though Israeli officials generally refrain from taking responsibility for specific strikes in Syria, they have acknowledged conducting hundreds to thousands of raids in the country since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

These have overwhelmingly been against Iran and its proxies, notably the Lebanese Hezbollah group, but the IDF has also carried out strikes on Syrian air defenses when those batteries have fired at Israeli jets. In recent months, the IDF has also confirmed conducting operations in Iraq against Iranian entrenchment efforts there as well.

The reported strikes in the early hours of Thursday morning came just over a month after the killing of Iranian Quds Force head Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike earlier this month.

Soleimani was seen as the architect of Iran’s project to carve out a foothold in Syria, which Israel sees as a threat and has vowed to stymie. An IDF Military Intelligence assessment handed to the government last month said the removal of Soleimani could give Israel an opportunity to curb or halt Iran entrenchment in Syria and elsewhere.

Shortly after this assessment was released, Damascus accused the Israeli Air Force of carrying out an attack on the T-4 military airport in central Syria near Homs. The base has long believed to be used by Iranian forces and allied Shiite militias and has been targeted by Israeli airstrikes in the past.

According to the SOHR, the strike on January 14 targeted a weapons storehouse, as well as a building that was under construction and two military vehicles on the T-4 air base, killing three pro-Iranian fighters.

Last November, four rockets were fired at northern Israel from Syria, all of which were shot down by the Iron Dome missile defense system. In response, the Israeli army conducted a series of air strikes against Iranian forces and government military sites, killing several pro-Iranian fighters.