Suspected Israeli strike 'kills senior Hezbollah official' in Syria

A suspected Israeli missile strike on a car near the occupied Golan Heights in Syria has reportedly killed a senior Hezbollah official, media reported on Thursday.

Syrian state TV reported that an Israeli drone targeted the vehicle near the southern village of Hader in the Quneitra region.

There was no immediate comment from Israel about the attack.

Israeli media reported that Aymad Al-Tawil, a senior Hezbollah member, was travelling in the car when it was targeted by the drone.

He was involved in organising Hezbollah cells in Syria to launch cross-border attacks on Israel, Channel 13 reported.

Israel has repeatedly struck Iran-linked targets in Syria in recent years including militia targets in the east of the country, warning it will not allow the Islamic Republic to build a permanent military presence in the country.

A Syrian military statement reported this week that an Israeli attack near Damascus International Airport had taken place and that its air defences confronted fire coming from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

It said the defenders intercepted or shot down most of them.

In a rare acknowledgement of operations in neighbouring Syria, Israel said its warplanes attacked targets late Sunday of the Palestinian militant Islamic Jihad group, south of Damascus, in addition to sites in the Gaza Strip.

It said the sites attacked were used for "research and development of armaments" manufactured in Syria and Gaza and had allegedly produced dozens of kilograms (pounds) of rocket fuel each month.