Photo Credit: Daily StarBy The Daily Star. Massive explosions shook Damascus early Sunday and Syrian state media said Israeli missiles had hit a military research center on the outskirts of the capital.

“Initial information indicates that the explosions at the scientific research center in Jamraya near Damascus were caused by Israeli missiles,” the official SANA news agency. It gave no further details.

Damascus residents reported hearing massive blasts at 1:50 am Sunday.

“There was a large explosion. We first felt shakes like an earthquake and 30 seconds later heard gunfire,” one resident told The Daily Star by telephone from the Syrian capital.

“There was an electricity cut then a large boom.The door of my balcony opened from the after effect,” another resident said, adding that warplanes could be heard overhead.

Read more from this story HERE.

‘Israeli officials confirm Syria airstrike that hit Hezbollah-bound weapons’

By AP and Times of Israel Staff. Israeli officials on Saturday reportedly confirmed the Israeli Air Force carried out a strike against Syria and say it targeted a shipment of advanced missiles.

The officials said the shipment was not of chemical arms, but of “game changing” weapons bound for the terror group Hezbollah. One official said the target was a shipment of advanced, long-range ground-to-ground missiles.

The officials said the attack took place early Friday. It was not immediately clear where the airstrike took place, or whether the air force carried out the strike from Lebanese or Syrian airspace.

There was no immediate comment from Syrian officials, and no word of the airstrike on Syrian state media.

According to a source quoted by Reuters in a report Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet for secret talks on Thursday night, hours before the strike. Read more from this story HERE.