Israel launched its third strike against targets around the Syrian capital Damascus in the early hours of Wednesday, Syrian government media reported.

The strike was reportedly carried out with missiles launched from northern Israel, although the Israeli government rarely acknowledges such attacks.

Syrian state media said four soldiers were killed, three wounded, and some material damage inflicted. Israeli strikes usually target bases where there are Iranian or Iran-backed forces.

In early March, two Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers were killed in a similar attack that Tehran in a rare move acknowledged and vowed a severe response. Days later Iran fired ballistic missiles at the northern Kurdish city of Erbil, claiming it targeted a secret Israeli operations center there.

State media also claimed to have shot down most of the incoming missiles, a claim Israeli sources dismiss as rhetoric.

One of the attacks this month was a rare daytime strike near the town of Masyaf, which is believed to have an Iranian base hosting both IRGC forces and pro-Iran militias.

Iran has been involved in the Syrian civil war since 2011 in support of the Bashar al-Assad government. It has supplied tens of thousands of ground forces, mostly Afghan and other militias, that were key to the defeat of opposition forces.