Syria intercepts drones near capital

Damascus, Feb 10 (IANS) Syrian air defences have intercepted two combat drones launched from the direction of Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Syrian Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The Ministry on Friday added that air defences shot the two unmanned aerial vehicles down west of the capital Damascus after they violated the Syrian airspace around 2:10 p.m. local time, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, witnesses told Xinhua that an explosion was heard in the Western Villas of Mazzeh neighbourhood in the capital city.

Last month, a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was killed in an air raid on a residential building in the same neighbourhood.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, the Mazzeh military airport and a house in another area west of Damascus were hit by Israel-launched missiles on Friday, while the third missile was shot down by the Syrian air defences.

It noted that Israel usually targets areas that harbour Iranian-backed fighters.

The attack is the latest in a string of Israeli targetting of Syrian areas.

On Wednesday, nine people were killed and more than 20 others wounded in a midnight Israeli missile attack on a residential area in Homs province.