Israeli warplanes have fired a number of missiles towards Damascus, triggering Syrian air defence that shot down most of them, according to state media reports.

"The results of the aggression so far were limited to a strike on one of the warehouses at Damascus airport," SANA news agency cited a military source as saying. The attack took place at 11:15pm (21:15 GMT), it said.

The state news agency also quoted a transport ministry source as saying that the airport was running normally.

Syrian state media broadcast footage of what it said were the air defences 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 carved out there 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.

"Two areas hosting military positions of Iranian forces and the Lebanese Hezbollah movement have been targeted," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

These were near the airport and around the Kisweh area south of Damascus, the observatory said.

In an earlier report, SANA had spoken of Syrian air defence batteries attacking "enemy targets".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 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.