REUTERS--  The army said Israeli jets fired missiles at the al-Qutaifa area near Damascus from inside Lebanese airspace at 2:40 a.m. (0040 GMT), and that Syrian air defences hit one of the planes.

Israel then fired ground-to-ground rockets from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, but the Syrian defences brought the missiles down, the Syrian army said.

It said Israeli jets fired a final barrage of four rockets from inside Israel, and that the Syrian air defences brought down one, but that the others caused material damage.

An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to respond to the Syrian statement. Although the Israeli air force chief last August disclosed that his corps had struck in Syria around 100 times, Israel's policy is generally not to confirm or deny such operations.

In its statement, the Syrian army repeated previous warnings of serious repercussions for the strikes and repeated its past accusation that Israel was using attacks to support militant groups in Syria.