Israeli forces launch strikes in Syria after rocket fire

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel launched artillery strikes on Syria Sunday morning, the Israeli forces announced, after several rockets were fired from there and landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israel's retaliatory strike to rocket attacks from Syria, which no one has claimed, is the latest episode in escalating violence in the region.

Six rockets were launched towards Israel Saturday night, with two landing in the Golan Heights, the Israeli forces said. At least one was intercepted by the Israeli air-defence system.

The 1,200 square kilometre region, patrolled by Israeli soldiers and bordering Lebanon, was seized from Syria in the June War of 1967. Israel later occupied it in a move that was never recognised by the international community.

Syrian state news agency SANA said the Israeli strikes took place around 5:00 am (0200 GMT).

Citing an unnamed military source, SANA said Syria’s military had “intercepted the rockets... and brought down some of them”.

The surge in violence and unrest comes as the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan Jewish Passover and Christian Easter coincide.

On Wednesday, Israeli troops stormed the prayer hall of Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, in a pre-dawn raid aimed at dislodging “law-breaking youths masked agitators” they said had barricaded themselves inside.

The next day, more than 30 rockets were fired from Lebanese soil into Israel, which the Israeli forces blamed on Palestinian groups, saying it was most likely Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.

Israel then bombarded Gaza and southern Lebanon, targeting “terror infrastructures” that it said belonged to Hamas.

It was the biggest salvo fired from Lebanon since Israel fought a devastating 34-day war with Iran-backed militant group Hizbollah in 2006 and the first time Israel has confirmed an attack on Lebanese territory since April 2022.

Israel and Lebanon are technically in a state of war, and the ceasefire line is patrolled by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, deployed in the country’s south.

On the Syrian side, Israel has recently intensified its raids targeting positions of pro-Iranian groups.

Violence in Israel 

On Friday evening, an Italian tourist was killed and seven other people injured in a suspected car-ramming attack on pedestrians on the Tel Aviv seafront.

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the forces to “mobilise all reserve border police units”.

He also directed the army to “mobilise additional forces”, his office said.

Earlier on Friday, two British-Israeli sisters aged 16 and 20 were killed and their mother seriously wounded when their car was fired on in the Jordan Valley in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Police said four reserve battalions of border police would be deployed in city centres from Sunday.

The defence ministry confirmed late Saturday it had mobilised soldiers to support the police, and that it would tighten entry restrictions into Israel for Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, in particular workers.