A series of Israeli strikes hit Iranian targets in Syria on Sunday, near the ancestral home region of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, it has been reported.
The strikes hit targets close to Russia's main Syrian bases on the Mediterranean coast, Reuters reported.
Three personnel were killed and three wounded in two Israeli attacks south of Tartus province and one on Damascus, the Syrian Army said.
Two Syrian military defectors told Reuters the strikes on the north-eastern outskirts of Damascus hit outposts of Lebanon's pro-Iranian Hezbollah group.
A Syrian Army officer in the Tartus coastal region said an Iranian base near the village of Abu Afsa, south of the port city, was targeted alongside an air defence and radar station nearby.
Israel has staged hundreds of strikes against alleged Iranian targets in recent years, but has mostly avoided hitting the coastal provinces where Russia's main military assets are concentrated.
The strikes have come as a low-intensity conflict has escalated, with the goal of slowing down Iran's growing entrenchment in Syria, according to Israeli and regional military experts.
The strikes were close to the Russian Navy's only Mediterranean base in the port of Tartus where Russian warships are docked, while Moscow's major Hmeimim airbase is in nearby Latakia province.