Three soldiers killed after Israel attacks Syrian military positions near Golan Heights

Warplanes struck an arms depot of Iranian troops and Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters, observers say

Israeli warplane above Syria (Reuters)

Three soldiers have been killed in Syria after Israel attacked military positions there, the war-torn country’s state-run media has reported.

Warplanes struck at bases and arms depots in the southern Quneitra region, an unnamed official told Syria’s SANA news agency.

It said seven others were injured in the attack.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed on Twitter that it had had targeted several strategic positions including two artillery batteries, a range of observation and intelligence posts, and an air defence unit.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an independent war monitor, said the planes had hit an arms depot of Iranian troops and Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters.

The attacks came hours after the Israeli military said two projectiles were fired from Syria towards the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights – although neither are said to have caused damage or casualties.

For years, Israel remained largely silent about carrying out cross-border attacks against Iranian targets in Syria.

But it has increasingly acknowledged the existence of such operations in recent months and admitted carrying out dozens of air strikes this year alone.

Israeli aircraft hit a Syrian military post after it was claimed an anti-aircraft missile was fired at one of its fighter jet, last week.

Syrian media said a soldier was killed in that attack.

Israel says it is determined to prevent Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, where Tehran has backed president Bashar al-Assad in the country's eight-year civil war.