Syrian state media said loud blasts coming from an air base early on Sunday were from an explosion at an ammunition dump caused by an electrical problem, but an official in the regional alliance backing Damascus said they were from Israeli strikes.

The state media cited a military source as saying there was no “Israeli aggression” directed at the Mezzeh airbase near Damascus after the sound of explosions was heard across the Syrian capital.

Iran’s state news agency IRNA quoted an unnamed Iranian military official based in Syria as saying that the blast was caused by “an electrical short-circuit in an ammunition depot” on the outskirts of Damascus.

The official had said the blasts were caused by Israeli missile fire from across the Golan Heights frontier between the two countries and by Syrian air defences responding.

A war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, also attributed the blasts to Israeli strikes, which it said caused deaths and injuries.

Israel has previously acknowledged having carried out air strikes in Syria aimed at degrading the capacity of Iran and its allies, including Lebanon’s Shi’ite Hezbollah group, which are backing Assad in the country’s seven-year civil war.

source: haaretz.com

#BREAKING: explosion struck ammo depots in Al-Mazzeh airbase pic.twitter.com/K7HmBJcAan

— Majd Fahd ?? (@Syria_Protector) September 1, 2018