Israel says it has hit Iranian targets around the Syrian capital, Damascus. The Israel Defense Forces say the overnight operation targeted the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, as well as Syrian air defences.  The Syrian military says it shot down most of the Israeli missiles. But a monitoring group reported that at least 11 pro-government fighters were killed. The IDF says it acted after the Quds Force fired a rocket from Syria towards the occupied Golan Heights on Sunday. Iran, Israel's arch-enemy, has sent thousands of military personnel to support Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the country's civil war. The IDF rarely admits carrying out attacks inside Syria. But it announced the start of Monday's strikes on the Quds Force in a tweet. A statement issued later said Israeli fighter jets had hit munition storage sites, a site located in Damascus International Airport, an Iranian intelligence site and an Iranian military training camp. The jets also struck several Syrian military air defence batteries after dozens of surface-to-air missiles were launched "despite clear warnings", it added. "We're operating both against Iran and against the Syrian forces that are abetting the Iranian aggression," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "We'll strike at anyone who tried to harm us. Whoever threatens to eliminate us, bears full responsibility." The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported that weapons depots and positions belonging to Iranian forces and the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, were hit. It said at least 11 fighters, including two Syrians, were killed. AFP.