Shafaq News / Israel said on Monday that it had received a Syrian request for assistance with earthquake relief for the Arab state and that it was prepared to oblige, in what would be rare cooperation between the enemy neighbours.

The Syrian pro-government newspaper Al Watan cited an official source as denying Damascus had made such a request of Israel, however.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech he had ordered aid sent to Turkey, the epicentre of Monday's earthquake, with the airlifts that began in the afternoon.

"Since a request was also received to do this for many victims of the earthquake in Syria, I instructed to do this as well," he said at the ceremony in a hospital near Tel Aviv.

In later televised remarks to his party, Netanyahu said the request for humanitarian relief for Syria had been relayed "by a diplomatic official" - whom he did not identify.

"I approved this, and I reckon that these things will be carried out soon," Netanyahu said.

Syrian officials have reported hundreds killed in the civil war-torn country, both in areas under Damascus' control and in the opposition-held northwest.

Asked who had made the request regarding Syria cited by Netanyahu, an Israeli official told Reuters: "The Syrians". Asked if this referred to opposition members or to President Bashar al-Assad's government, the official said only: "Syria".

Israel's public broadcaster Kan said in an unsourced report that Russia had relayed the request for Israel to assist Syria.

(Reuters)