This article is more than 3 months old

This article is more than 3 months old

Israel has carried out airstrikes in Syria in response to rare rocket fire from the neighbouring country. A war monitor reported that 10 people were killed, including Syrian soldiers and foreign fighters.

Israel’s army said two rockets were fired from Syria at Mount Hermon, in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, late on Saturday and one was “located within Israeli territory”.

In response, the army attacked two Syrian artillery batteries, a number of observation and intelligence posts on the Golan Heights and an SA-2 aerial defence battery, it said.

The Israeli attack left three Syrian soldiers and seven foreign fighters dead, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

According to the UK-based monitor, they died in missile strikes close the capital, Damascus, where Syrian troops, Iranian forces and Hezbollah fighters are stationed. The observatory did not specify the nationality of the foreign fighters killed.

Syria’s official news agency Sana quoted a military source as saying anti-aircraft defences fired against “enemy missiles” from Israel targeting positions in south-west Damascus.

The Israeli army said its own aerial defence systems were activated due to the Syrian anti-aircraft fire, but none of the Syrian fire hit Israel.

Israel plans to name settlement on occupied land after Trump Read more

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he had ordered the strike. “We won’t tolerate fire at our territory and will respond forcefully to any aggression against us,” he said.

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria, most of them against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets. Israel says it is determined to prevent its arch-foe Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, where Tehran backs President Bashar al-Assad in the country’s eight-year war, which has killed more than 370,000 people.

Israel insists it has the right to continue to target positions in Syria held by Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah out of self-defence.

On 27 May, Syria said Israel carried out a missile attack in Quneitra. The Israeli army said it was retaliation for anti-aircraft fire targeting one of its fighter jets.

Syrian air defence batteries intercepted projectiles from Israel and downed a number of them on 17 May, according to Sana.

The Syrian province of Quneitra includes the Golan Heights, most of which is occupied and annexed by Israel.

In January, Israel hit Iranian positions in Syria in response to missile fire. According to the observatory, 21 people, mainly Iranians, were killed in those raids.

The latest reported strike comes at a time of rising tensions between Iran and the US. The standoff has been simmering since the US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear treaty between Iran and world powers. In recent weeks the US has accused Iran of alleged threats and deployed an aircraft carrier group and B-52 bombers to the Gulf. </s> An Israeli military spokesman said the army "responded with artillery towards the positions that launched the attack" and that it ordered the evacuation of Israel's Mt. Hermon ski resort on the Golan Heights after the rockets struck.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility or any report of casualties.

"It does not seem that it was errant fire," Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, told Reuters.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters U.S. officials "do not want to see an escalation of the situation." Psaki said the United States calls "upon all parties to avoid any action that would jeopardize the long-held ceasefire between Israel and Syria."

"We support Israel's legitimate right to self defense and have been clear about our concerns over the regional instability caused by the crisis in Syria," Psaki added.

Meanwhile, Iran has told the United States last week's air strike crossed "red lines" and that it will respond, IRNA news agency on Tuesday quoted a senior official as saying.

"We told the Americans that the leaders of the Zionist regime should await the consequences of their act," deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said.

"In this message to the Americans we said that the Zionist regime had crossed our red lines," he said.

In the Israeli air strike on a Hezbollah convoy near the Golan Heights on Jan. 18, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general, Mohammed Allahdadi, was killed along with a Hezbollah commander and the son of the group's late military leader, Imad Moughniyeh.

Both Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006, and the Revolutionary Guards vowed to avenge the deaths.

Since the air strike, troops and civilians in northern Israel and the Golan Heights have been on heightened alert and Israel has deployed an Iron Dome rocket interceptor unit near the Syrian border.

Israel captured the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. Mortar shells and rockets have struck the heights numerous times during Syria's nearly four-year-old civil war.

Israel has said some of those incidents deliberately targeted its soldiers while others were spillover from fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. </s> But speaking after at least four Syrian soldiers were been killed in the raids carried out by Tel Aviv, during which Iranian forces operating within the country have been targeted, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netahyahu hit back, warning he will hit back against "anyone who tries to harm us". Speaking today, the head of Iran's air force said on Monday the country was impatient to fight Israel and destroy it, a state-linked news website said. Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh was quoted as saying by the Young Journalist Club, a website supervised by state television: ”The young people in the air force are fully ready and impatient to confront the Zionist regime and eliminate it from the Earth."

Israel struck in Syria early on Monday as part of its increasingly open assault on Iran's presence there, shaking the night sky over Damascus with an hour of loud explosions in a second consecutive night of military action.



The threat of open confrontation between arch-enemies Israel and Iran has long simmered in Syria, as the Iranian military has established a presence there since early in its civil war in support of President Bashar al-Assad against rebels.



Israel, which regards Iran as its biggest threat, has repeatedly attacked Iranian targets and those of allied militia, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, in Syria, aiming to push them far from its frontier.



The Israeli military said its fighter jets had attacked the Iranian targets early on Monday, including munition stores, a position in the Damascus International Airport, an intelligence site and a military training camp.

Israeli jets then targeted Syrian defence batteries after coming under fire, the Israeli military said, and the Defence Ministry of Russia, Assad's strongest ally, said four Syrian soldiers were killed and six wounded.



The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said 11 people had been killed.



Syrian air defences, supplied by Russia, had destroyed more than 30 cruise missiles and guided bombs, the Russian Defence Ministry said, according to RIA news agency.



Syrian state media, citing a military source, said the country had endured "intense attack through consecutive waves of guided missiles, but had destroyed most "hostile targets".



Israel's target was the Iranian Quds Force, a special unit in charge of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps overseas operations, the Israeli military said.



It followed a previous night of cross-border fire, which Israel said was prompted by a rocket fired at a packed ski resort in the Golan Heights, close to the frontier with Syria.



An Israel military statement said: “Yesterday, Iranian Quds forces operating in Syrian territory launched a surface-to-surface rocket from Syrian territory aimed at the northern Golan Heights.”



Syria said it was Israel that had attacked, and its own air defences that had repelled the assault.

Speaking during a visit to Chad in West Africa, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is hoping to win a fifth term in an April 9 election, said: "We have a permanent policy, to strike at the Iranian entrenchment in Syria and hurt whoever tries to hurt us.”



Israel, which appointed a new military chief last week, also appeared keen to signal zero tolerance for Sunday's rocket launch, which it said had been foiled by its Iron Dome interceptor system.



The Israeli army said the Mount Hermon ski resort in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights would be shut for the day. It added that otherwise things remained "routine" along the frontier with Syria.



Netanyahu last week acknowledged an Israeli attack on what he called an Iranian arms cache in Syria, where Tehran provides Damascus with vital support.



He told his cabinet Israel had carried out "hundreds" of attacks over the past years of Syria's war to curtail Iran and its ally Hezbollah. In a speech today, he said the air strikes had mainly targeted military positions set up by Iran, which he warned would face consequences for threatening to destroy Israel. He addedL "We are operating both against Iran and against the Syrian forces that are abetting the Iranian aggression. "We will strike at anyone who tried to harm us. Whoever threatens to eliminate us, bears full responsibility." Iran has said it has no plans to quit Syria, where it has helped Syria's President Bashar al-Assad fight off an eight-year rebellion against his rule. Most of the country is now back under Damascus' control, and Assad's alliances with both Iran and Russia remain very strong. Last summer, he took back rebel-held territory in southwest Syria, near the Golan Heights, in a campaign that was supported by Iran-backed militias. </s> - Israel attacked Syrian military positions in the country's south early Sunday, killing three soldiers and wounding seven others, Syria's state-run media reported.

Israel's military confirmed it targeted several military positions in Syria, including two artillery batteries, several observation and intelligence posts and an SA2 air defense unit. It said it was responding to two rockets launched from Syria late Saturday, which caused no casualties. The army says one rocket fell within Israeli-controlled territory but didn't explode.

The Syrian state news agency SANA, quoting an unnamed military official, said the attacks struck military positions in the southern region of Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. They also caused material damage, it said.

This is the latest such exchange amid heightened tension in the region over Iran's role in Syria and other parts of the Middle East.

Soon after the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he'd ordered the strikes. "We will not tolerate firing into our territory and will respond fiercely against any aggression against us," he said in a statement.

It was a rare public acknowledgement of Israeli strikes in Syria soon after they happened but is the second in a little over a week, both sparked by claims that fire was directed at Israel from inside Syria. On May 26, Israel said its aircraft had hit a Syrian military post in response to anti-aircraft fire against one of its combat planes. One Syrian soldier was killed, according to state-run media.

The Israeli military said that during Sunday's strikes, an Israeli aerial defense system was activated due to Syrian anti-aircraft shooting. Israeli media said that sirens warning of incoming rockets were not activated.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said Israeli aircraft struck positions and an arms depot belonging to Iranian troops and Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters.

The attacks came hours after the Israeli military said two projectiles were fired from Syria toward the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which Israel annexed in a move that has not been recognized by most of the international community. The U.S. recently said it recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the Golan.

Israel has acknowledged carrying out dozens of airstrikes in Syria against Iranian targets and Tehran's allies over recent months.

For years, Israel has remained largely silent about its attacks against Iran and its Shiite proxies operating in neighboring Syria. But in recent months, military and political leaders have become increasingly outspoken about these activities. Israel says it will not allow Iran, which has sent forces to help President Bashar Assad in Syria's civil war, to establish a permanent military presence in Syria.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military on Sunday said it attacked a series of targets belonging to the Syrian military, after several projectiles from neighboring Syria landed in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights for a second day.

The military said it targeted two Syrian artillery positions and an ammunitions truck. There were no immediate reports of casualties. But as an added precaution, the military instructed Israeli civilians from gathering in open areas in the border area.

It was the second straight day that Israel responded to what it has described as errant fire from Syria. Israel has tried to stay out of the six-year civil war in Syria and refrained from taking sides, but has responded to spillover fire on numerous occasions.

Israel also is believed to have carried out airstrikes on suspected weapons shipments to its archenemy Hezbollah, whose fighters are in Syria backing government forces.

“Our policy is clear: We will not tolerate any spillover or trickle whatsoever — neither mortars nor rockets, from any front,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday. “We will respond strongly to any attack on our territory or our citizens.”

He also said Israel views “with utmost gravity” Iranian attempts to gain a foothold in Syria or to provide advanced weapons to Hezbollah, its Lebanese proxy.

In Saturday’s fighting, Israeli aircraft struck various positions, destroying two tanks, in response to more than 10 projectiles that landed in its territory, the military said.

Syrian state media said a number of people were killed and, citing the Syrian military command, said five soldiers were wounded.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war. It subsequently annexed the strategic plateau overlooking northern Israel, but that annexation is not international recognized. </s> JERUSALEM (AP) - The Latest on the war in Syria, where Israel responded to a rocket attack by launching a wave of missile strikes on Iranian positions (all times local):

A top official from the Arab Gulf country of Bahrain is defending what he says is Israel’s “right” to defend itself after Israel launched overnight strikes on Iranian targets in Syria.

Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa wrote on Twitter Thursday that so long as Iran uses its forces and missiles to try and destabilize the region, “it is the right of any country in the region, including Israel to defend itself by destroying sources of danger.”

Israel says Iranian rocket attacks on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights prompted the overnight strikes. Iran has not commented on the accusations.

Bahrain, a close U.S. ally, considers Iran a regional threat. The tiny island-nation accuses its Persian Gulf neighbor of arming and training Shiite Bahraini protesters with the aim of destabilizing the Sunni-ruled country. Bahrain has also welcomed President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear accord with Iran.

Russia says the Israeli strikes on Iranian facilities in Syria have marked a dangerous escalation, urging both Israel and Iran to avoid provoking each other.

He noted that in contacts with the leadership of both countries, including a meeting Wednesday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “we underlined the necessity of avoiding any actions that might be mutually provocative.” Netanyahu visited Moscow Wednesday to attend celebrations marking the WWII victory anniversary.

Israel said it struck dozens of Iranian targets overnight in response to a rocket barrage on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights, the biggest Israeli strike in Syria since the 1973 war.

Britain has condemned “in the strongest terms” a suspected Iranian rocket attack against Israeli positions in the Golan Heights.

In a statement Thursday, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson urged Iran to refrain from actions that could destabilize the region. Johnson also called on Russia to press the Syrian government, its ally, to work toward a broader political settlement.

The attack in the Golan prompted Israel to launch a wave of missile strikes at Iranian targets inside Syria. Iran has not commented on the exchange of fire. Syria’s military said the Israeli strikes killed three people and damaged a number of its air defense units.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are calling for de-escalation in the Middle East after an alleged Iranian rocket barrage on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights prompted Israeli strikes on Iranian targets in Syria.

Merkel and Macron met in Aachen, Germany Thursday on the sidelines of a ceremony where Macron was awarded a prize for contributions to European unity. The German government said they discussed events in the Middle East and called for “level-headedness and de-escalation in the region.”

Merkel alluded to the two countries’ support for the Iran nuclear deal. She said: “We know that we face an extremely complicated situation here. The escalation of the last few hours shows it is truly a matter of war and peace, and I can only call on all involved to exercise restraint.”

Syria’s military says overnight Israeli airstrikes killed three people, wounded two and destroyed a radar station, an ammunition warehouse, and damaged a number of air defense units.

Syrian Brig. Gen. Ali Mayhoub, who read the statement on Syrian television Thursday, says Syrian air defense systems had intercepted “the large part” of the incoming Israeli strikes.

Mayhoub did not say whether Iranian forces or Iran-backed militiamen were among those killed or wounded.

Israel’s defense minister says the military struck “nearly all” of Iran’s military facilities in Syria. A Syrian war monitoring group says the strikes killed at least 23 people, including five Syrian soldiers.

The Russian military says Israel fired more than 70 missiles at Iranian facilities in Syria and that Syrian air defenses shot down more than half of them.

Israel says it struck dozens of Iranian targets overnight in response to a rocket barrage on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights. It was the biggest Israeli strike in Syria since the 1973 war.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that 28 Israeli F-15 and F-16 fighter jets launched about 60 air-to-surface missiles during the two-hour raid early Thursday. It says Israel also fired over 10 tactical surface-to-surface missiles.

Russia is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and has been waging its own air campaign on his behalf since 2015.

A Syrian war monitoring group says Israeli attacks on several sites in Syria have killed 23 fighters, including five Syrian soldiers.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Thursday the overnight attacks struck several military posts for Syrian troops and Iranian-backed militias near the capital, Damascus, in central Syria and in southern Syria.

The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdurrahman, said five Syrian soldiers, including two officers, and 18 militia fighters were killed. Abdurrahman says it is not immediately clear if Iranians were among those killed.

He says the toll is likely to rise because some of the wounded are in critical condition.

The Observatory says the strikes targeted suspected locations of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, as well as areas where Iranian advisers are believed to be based.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has accused U.S. President Donald Trump of saying one thing one day and the opposite the next, saying “I don’t think in the meantime we can achieve anything with such an administration.”

Assad spoke in an interview with the Greek Kathimerini newspaper published Thursday, before Israel carried out airstrikes in Syria in response to what it said was a cross-border rocket attack by Iranian forces.

He appeared to be referring to conflicting messages from the White House on how long it plans to keep American troops in Syria and its plans going forward.

Assad says wise Russian leadership has managed to avoid a full-blown conflict with Washington. He says: “I hope we don’t see any direct conflict between these superpowers, because this is where things are going to be out of control for the rest of the world.”

Both Russia and Iran have provided crucial military support to Assad’s forces.

Israel’s defense minister says the military has struck “nearly all” of the Iranian infrastructure sites in Syria.

Avigdor Lieberman says Thursday Israel responded fiercely to an unprecedented rocket attack by Iranian forces in Syria against Israel. He says no one was harmed in Israel and all the rockets were either intercepted or fell short.

Lieberman told the Herzliya Conference, an annual security gathering north of Tel Aviv, that “if it rains on us it will be a flood on them.”

Israel attacked dozens of Iranian targets overnight in response to the rocket barrage on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights. It was the most serious military confrontation between Israel and Iran to date and Israel’s biggest strike in Syria since the 1973 war.

The Israeli military says it attacked dozens of Iranian targets in neighboring Syria in response to an Iranian rocket barrage on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights, in the most serious military confrontation between the two bitter enemies to date.

Israel says the targets included weapons storage facilities, logistics centers, intelligence sites and logistic sites used by elite Iranian forces in Syria. It also says it destroyed several Syrian air-defense systems after coming under heavy fire. It says none of its warplanes was hit.

The blistering Israeli assault was by far the most intensive Israeli action in neighboring Syria since the civil war broke out there in 2011. Israel has tried to stay on the sidelines but has acknowledged over 100 airstrikes over the past seven years. </s> Israel attacked Syrian military positions in the country’s south early Sunday, killing three soldiers and wounding seven others, Syria’s state-run media reported.

State news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying the attacks struck military positions in the southern region of Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. They also caused material damage, it said.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed on Twitter that Israel targeted several military positions in Syria. He said the targets included two artillery batteries, several observation and intelligence posts and an SA2 air defense unit.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition’s war monitor, said Israeli warplanes struck positions and an arms depot of Iranian troops and Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighters.

The attacks came hours after the Israeli military said two projectiles were fired from Syria toward the Golan Heights.

The Israeli military said Saturday there were no reports of casualties or damage. Israeli media said that sirens warning of incoming rockets were not activated.

Israel has acknowledged carrying out dozens of airstrikes in Syria on Iranian targets and Tehran’s allies.

Last week, Israeli aircraft hit a Syrian military post after the army said an anti-aircraft missile was fired at one of its fighter jets. Syrian media said a soldier was killed in that airstrike.

Israel says it will not allow Iran, which has sent forces to help President Bashar Assad in Syria’s civil war, to establish a permanent military presence in Syria.

For years, Israel has remained largely silent about its attacks against Iran and its Shiite proxies operating in neighboring Syria. But in recent months, military and political leaders have become increasingly outspoken about these activities. @PTI </s> BEIRUT (AP) — Israel attacked Syrian military positions in the country's south early Sunday, killing three soldiers and wounding seven others, Syria's state-run media reported.

State news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying the attacks struck military positions in the southern region of Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. They also caused material damage, it said.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed on Twitter that Israel targeted several military positions in Syria. He said the targets included two artillery batteries, several observation and intelligence posts and an SA2 air defense unit.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition's war monitor, said Israeli warplanes struck positions and an arms depot of Iranian troops and Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters.

The attacks came hours after the Israeli military said two projectiles were fired from Syria toward the Golan Heights.

The Israeli military said Saturday there were no reports of casualties or damage. Israeli media said that sirens warning of incoming rockets were not activated.

Israel has acknowledged carrying out dozens of airstrikes in Syria on Iranian targets and Tehran's allies.

Last week, Israeli aircraft hit a Syrian military post after the army said an anti-aircraft missile was fired at one of its fighter jets. Syrian media said a soldier was killed in that airstrike.

Israel says it will not allow Iran, which has sent forces to help President Bashar Assad in Syria's civil war, to establish a permanent military presence in Syria.

For years, Israel has remained largely silent about its attacks against Iran and its Shiite proxies operating in neighboring Syria. But in recent months, military and political leaders have become increasingly outspoken about these activities. </s> BEIRUT (AP) — Israel attacked Syrian military positions in the country’s south early Sunday, killing three soldiers and wounding seven others, Syria’s state-run media reported.

State news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying the attacks struck military positions in the southern region of Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. They also caused material damage, it said.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed on Twitter that Israel targeted several military positions in Syria. He said the targets included two artillery batteries, several observation and intelligence posts and an SA2 air defense unit.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition’s war monitor, said Israeli warplanes struck positions and an arms depot of Iranian troops and Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighters.

The attacks came hours after the Israeli military said two projectiles were fired from Syria toward the Golan Heights.

The Israeli military said Saturday there were no reports of casualties or damage. Israeli media said that sirens warning of incoming rockets were not activated.

Israel has acknowledged carrying out dozens of airstrikes in Syria on Iranian targets and Tehran’s allies.

Last week, Israeli aircraft hit a Syrian military post after the army said an anti-aircraft missile was fired at one of its fighter jets. Syrian media said a soldier was killed in that airstrike.

Israel says it will not allow Iran, which has sent forces to help President Bashar Assad in Syria’s civil war, to establish a permanent military presence in Syria.

For years, Israel has remained largely silent about its attacks against Iran and its Shiite proxies operating in neighboring Syria. But in recent months, military and political leaders have become increasingly outspoken about these activities.
Israel kills ten people in airstrikes conducted against Syrian military targets in the Golan Heights in response to two rockets fired at Mount Hermon late Saturday.