Israeli forces raided a former air defence base in southern Syria on Wednesday during a series of airstrikes in the area – their farthermost such operation inside Syria since Bashar al-Assad was ousted last December.

The site, near the city of al-Kiswah, about 6 miles (10km) south of Damascus, was a strategic base for Iranian militias during Assad’s rule.

Syrian state media reported that the Israeli military had carried out strikes in the same area a day earlier, killing six Syrian troops who had found Israeli listening and spying devices there. The troops were in the process of dismantling the devices when they were killed, state media said.