Syria accuses Israel of strike near Damascus airport

Syria accused Israel of triggering a huge explosion near Damascus airport on Thursday by firing several missiles at a military position.

Meanwhile, air strikes on two hospitals in rebel-held northwestern Syria yesterday left 10 people dead including two babies in incubators, a monitor said.

They were among 19 people killed as a result of strikes across rebel-held Idlib province on, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It said the airstrike is possibly carried out by Russian warplanes.

An AFP correspondent in the village of Deir Sharqi, where one of the hospitals was hit, saw extensive damage and wards buried in rubble.

It was the third time in less than a week that medical facilities in the province, controlled by rebels and jihadist groups, had been hit in air strikes.

Israel has carried out multiple air strikes in Syria since the country's civil war erupted in 2011, most of which it has said targeted arms convoys or warehouses of its Lebanese arch-foe Hezbollah, which is a close ally of the Syrian regime.

In line with its usual practice, Israel's military declined to comment on the latest blast.

Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said it was consistent with his government's policy to prevent arms transfers to Hezbollah, but stopped short of confirming his country was behind any attack.

Syria's state news agency SANA said several Israeli missiles hit near the airport causing material damage.

Earlier, Damascus ally Hezbollah said the blast was "probably" the result of an Israeli air strike.

The Lebanese militant group's Al-Manar television said the raid hit a warehouse and fuel tanks, without specifying whether they were its own or belonged to the Syrian army or another of its allies.

Israeli warplanes have hit the airport and other bases around the capital in the past, targeting what it said were weapons stockpiles destined for Hezbollah.

The airport lies about 25 kilometres (15 miles) southeast of the city centre.