Syrian state media reported Thursday that Syrian air defenses "repelled aerial aggression" over the south of the country and that several enemy targets were downed.
The report said that among the areas hit was the countryside of Al-Kiswah, just south of Damascus. Al-Kiswah is home to several military bases, including some used by Iranian forces.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said the Syrian military repelled the attack "despite its intensity."
It was not immediately clear who was behind the airstrike, but Syrian reports suggested that it was launched by Israel.
Israel has previously admitted it had carried out a series of raids targeting Iranian and Hezbollah forces in Syria.
Initially, Russian media reports suggested that among the downed targets was an Israeli Air Force fighter jet, something the IDF adamantly denied.
Ultimately, the Russian news agency RIA denied that any Israeli aircraft had been downed.
"Reports regarding an IDF aircraft or an airborne IDF target having been hit by Syrian fire are false," the IDF stated.
"In the course of Syrian ground-to-air missile fire, [Israeli] air defenses sighted a single trajectory heading toward an open area of the Golan Heights. At this stage, it remains unclear whether there was indeed impact in our territory. Our forces are scouring the area," the IDF said.
The IDF later said the projectile had been located in the Golan Heights. No injuries or property damage were reported.
This was the first raid in Syria since Russia announced last month that it had delivered the S-300 air defense system to the war-torn country. The move followed the Sept. 17 downing of a Russian reconnaissance plane by Syrian forces trying to counter an Israeli airstrike.
A Syrian opposition figure familiar with the area where the incident occurred said its proximity to the Syrian Golan Heights made it a hub for the recruitment of Iran-backed militias and their deployment across the strategic border area with Israel.
"Israel targeted this area because the Syrian army barracks there have become a recruiting ground for Hezbollah and their militias to deploy in Quneitra," he said.
