Israel retaliates against Syria for firing missiles in the direction of the Golan Heights.
According to the Syrian Ministry of Defense’s statement, the country’s air defenses have replied to the Israeli assaults.
JERUSALEM: After a week of cross-border gunfire exchanges, bloodshed erupted once more on Sunday when Israeli planes attacked Syrian military targets in retaliation for rockets fired into Israeli-controlled territory overnight, according to the Israeli military.
Syria’s official media reported explosions in the capital city of Damascus as Israel said its forces were still attacking Syrian territory as a result of six rockets being fired overnight at the Golan Heights.
Israel said that after airstrikes struck a Syrian army facility, military radar equipment, and artillery sites, artillery and drone attacks targeted the rocket launchers.
The Israeli Defense Forces issued a statement saying that the Israeli military “sees the State of Syria accountable for any acts occurring within its territory and will not accept any attempts to breach Israeli sovereignty.”
According to the Syrian Ministry of Defense, its air defences replied to Israeli assaults by intercepting some Israeli missiles. It stated that just physical damage from the strikes had been noted, with no reports of deaths.
While missiles were launched from Syrian territory earlier, sirens rang close to villages in the Golan Heights, but no damage or deaths were reported. The majority of the international world did not recognise Israel’s 1981 annexation of the 1,200 square km (460 square mile) Golan Heights, which it had taken control of during the Middle East conflict of 1967.
The military said that just three of the missiles entered Israeli-controlled territory, with two hitting open land and the third being stopped by air defence systems.
Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organisation, which has Iranian support, claimed responsibility for the missile salvos, according to Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen TV.
More than 30 rockets were fired towards Israel on Thursday from southern Lebanon, prompting Israel to launch cross-border raids on Hamas-related targets in both Gaza and Lebanon.
The cross-border interactions took place amid significantly rising tensions between Israeli and Palestinian factions in the wake of recent Israeli police raids on Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque, which infuriated the Arab world.
Israel said that the actions were taken to remove groups of what the police described as radicals who had barricaded themselves inside the mosque while armed with stones and firecrackers.
Even among Israel’s U.S. friends, though, the raids during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan sparked outrage and worry as cellphone footage from inside the mosque showed police beating worshippers.
The Temple Mount, a place of pilgrimage for both Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem’s Old City, has a long history of conflict, particularly when Jewish tourists disobey a ban on non-Muslim prayer there.
Conflicts there in 2021 sparked a 10-day conflict between Israel and Hamas. The latest cross-border firefights have brought back memories of that battle.
There were worries on Saturday about more violence outside the mosque, but there were no reports of major disruptions overnight.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military and the Palestinian health ministry said that an Israeli soldier fatally shot a Palestinian man following an altercation in the occupied West Bank.
