Israeli strikes on Syria killed 10 fighters on Wednesday, including three Syrian air defence officers and seven allied foreign fighters, a Britain-based war monitor said in a new toll.

 

The foreigners included five fighters who were "likely Iranian and belonging to the Quds force", as well as two pro-Iran fighters of undetermined nationality, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

 

The strikes targeted two air defence positions, near Damascus airport and in the southwest of the capital, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

 

Other targets included positions and ammunition depots used by pro-Iran fighters south of Damascus including near Sayyeda Zeinab and Kisweh, he said.

 

The Israeli military said it carried out the early morning strikes in retaliation after it found explosive devices near one of its bases in the Israeli -occupied part of the Golan Heights on Tuesday.

 

Syrian state news agency SANA said the strikes killed three of its soldiers and wounded another.

 

Israel has carried out hundreds of air and missile strikes on Syria since the civil war broke out in 2011, targeting Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces as well as government troops.