Damascus, Apr 4 (IANS): A fresh Israeli missile strike hit military sites in Syria's capital Damascus on Tuesday, killing two civilians, the army in the war-torn Arab nation said in a statement.

The attack, launched from the Golan Heights, had triggered the Syrian air defences, which shot down some of the missiles, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

Meanwhile, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the Israeli missiles hit the vicinity of the Damascus International Airport, an Iranian position near Sayyida Zaynab and Al-Ma'amil area in Al-Kiswah south of Damascus.

According to the Observatory, it has been the fourth Israeli attack since Thursday and the 10th since the beginning of 2023.

Israel has carried out hundreds of air attacks against targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, including two missile strikes this month on Aleppo International Airport.

Israel claims the strikes are aimed at bases of Iran-allied armed groups such as Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Israel says such operations are aimed at preventing Iranian weapons from reaching armed groups in Syria that are backed by Iran.

Nearly half a million people have been killed in Syria's civil war, and around half of the country's pre-war population has been forced from their homes.