DAMASCUS - Israeli war jets sneaked off radars and hit a center for scientific research in a suburb of Syrian capital Damascus at dawn Wednesday, the General Command of the Syrian Military said in a statement.

The military statement, splashed in a thick red news bar on the state-TV, said the Israeli fighter jets penetrated at dawn Wednesday the Syrian airspace and directly struck one of the country's scientific research center located in the Jumraya suburb of the capital.

The attack came after many unsuccessful attempts by the "armed terrorist groups" to capture this site over the past months, the military statement said, hinting that the Israeli air raid played in the hands of the rebels.