Syria says Israeli missiles struck near military airport

BEIRUT — Syria accused Israel of firing missiles early Friday that landed near a major military base west of Damascus, in the third such reported attack in nearly six weeks to hit near the capital.

The Syrian government was quick to respond, warning Israel of the repercussions of such attacks. But it refrained from saying whether it would retaliate.

Damascus, preoccupied with the country’s civil war for six years now, is unlikely to open a new front with Israel. Meanwhile, Israel has delivered the occasional message to Damascus by targeting shipments of weapons headed to the Lebanese Hezbollah group. The group is a main supporter of Syria’s President Bashar Assad in the civil war, and has sent thousands of fighters to fight alongside his army.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on Friday to the Syrian claims of a strike. Israel is widely believed to have carried out a number of airstrikes on advanced weapons systems in Syria — including Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles and Iranian-made missiles, as well as Hezbollah positions — but it rarely confirms them.

Israel has largely been spared any spillover from Syria’s war, but it has voiced concerned with the role there of Hezbollah, the guerrilla group with which Israel has fought multiple wars, most recently in 2006.