(NEWSnet/AP) – Israel carried out a missile strike targeting an air defense unit in southern Syria, causing material damage, state-run SANA news agency quoted a military statement as saying Friday.

The warplanes were seen around the time loud noises and drones were reported near a major Iranian air base and nuclear site early Friday. That area of Syria is directly west of Isfahan, about 930 miles away, and east of Israel.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the strike hit a military radar for government forces. It was not clear if there were casualties, the Observatory said. The Observatory’s chief Rami Abdurrahman said six Israeli fighter jets entered Syria’s airspace and were flying east when they were spotted by the radar.

The situation in Iran early Friday local time involved air defenses fired at a major air base and a nuclear site near the central city of Isfahan. Iranian state-run media aired footage of an otherwise-peaceful Isfahan morning afterwards.

United States officials declined to publicly comment as of early Friday, but some American broadcast networks quoted unnamed U.S. officials who said Israel carried out the attack.

No Iranian official directly acknowledged the possibility that Israel attacked, and the Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment.

However, tensions have been high between Israel and Iran since the Saturday assault on Israel amid its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and its own strikes targeting Iran in Syria.

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