Syria has accused Israel of carrying out what it called a “flagrant” rocket attack on a major military base outside Damascus.

Explosions could be heard on video images published on social media, while smoke was seen rising from the area.

The airbase at Mezzah is used by President Assad’s elite Republican Guards.

Israel has in the past targeted positions of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group inside Syria.

Earlier a suicide bomber struck a heavily policed district of Damascus, killing at least seven people according to state television. Several others are said to have been wounded.

State TV quoted a police source as saying the suicide bomb went off in the Kafr Sousa neighbourhood where some of Syria’s main security installations are located.

The report said it happened near a sports club, giving no more details.

The opposition monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based abroad but has a wide network of contacts inside the country, says four soldiers including a colonel were among the victims.

The information was not immediately confirmed.

Part of the district is home to government ministries and and intelligence headquarters, but the attack is said to have happened in a different sector.