JERUSALEM (AP) - Iranian forces based in Syria fired 20 rockets at Israeli front-line military positions in the Golan Heights early Thursday, the Israeli military said, triggering a heavy Israeli reprisal and escalating already heightened tensions in what appeared to be the most serious violence in years. 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. 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. In a statement delivered shortly after midnight Thursday, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces pinned the blame for the rocket fire on the Quds Force, an elite division of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which has forces in Syria and is often seen as the face of Iran’s regional ambitions. Israel said 20 Iranian Grad and Fajr rockets were shot down by its Iron Dome air defence system or did not reach targets in the Golan, territory it captured from Syria in a 1967 war. A short time later, Syrian state-run media reported that while dozens of “hostile” Israeli missiles had been intercepted in Syrian airspace, at least two others had hit an ammunition depot and destroyed a radar site. There was no immediate comment from Israel on Syria’s claim, but the government almost never confirms or denies airstrikes in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said dozens of rockets were fired from Syria toward the Israeli-occupied Golan, but did not confirm they were fired by Iranian forces. In February, Israel accused Iranian forces at the T-4 base in central Syria of sending a drone into Israeli territory. 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. Expectations of a regional flare-up, amid warnings from Israel it was determined to prevent Iranian military entrenchment in Syria, were stoked by U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement on Tuesday that he was withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear deal. 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. 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 military went on high alert Tuesday and bomb shelters were ordered open in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights following reports of “irregular activity of Iranian forces in Syria.” After an uneventful night, the military on Wednesday called on residents to return to “full civilian routine,” meaning studies and excursions would continue as usual, although the shelters would remain open.
Syrian and Iranian forces fire 20 missiles at the Israel Defense Forces positioned in the disputed territory of the Golan Heights, prompting air raid sirens in northern Israel. The IDF reports the Iron Dome missile defence system has intercepted a number of missiles and reports no injuries. Israeli forces respond with artillery into Syria.