Israel launches strikes on Syria after 6 rockets fired
Jerusalem, Apr 9 (EFE).- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) attacked targets in Syria on Sunday morning in response to six rockets fired from Syrian territory, out of which three crossed into Israeli territory.
“IDF warplanes attacked targets in Syrian territory, including a military compound of the 4th division, radar and artillery positions used by the Syrian army,” the Israeli military said in a statement.
“This follows the attack by the IDF using artillery forces and remotely manned aircraft on the launchers in Syria, from which the shooting was carried out at Israel,” it added.
This is the first time that rockets have been fired from Syria to Israel since 2019 and come two days after Palestinian militias launched some 30 rockets from southern Lebanon and over a dozen from the Gaza Strip.
Israel responded to that rocket barrage by striking Hamas targets both in the strip and in southern Lebanon.
According to Syrian media reports, Israeli jets also bombed areas near Damascus.
Israel has intensified its airstrikes on Syria in the last month.
The most recent strike was on Tuesday in the suburbs of the capital, killing two civilians.
“The IDF considers the Syrian state responsible for everything that happens on its territory and will not allow attempts to violate Israel’s ,” warned the army of Israel, which maintains a historic hostility towards the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Asaad.
On Saturday night, three rockets was launched from Syria into Israel, although only one crossed into Israeli territory, falling on open ground.
A second round of three rockets was fired hours later, at dawn, of which two crossed into Israeli-controlled territory, one intercepted by the air defense system and the other hitting an uninhabited area.
Sirens sounded in several parts of the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory seized by Israel in 1967 and annexed in 1981.
The exchange of fire on the northern border occurs amid an upsurge of violence in the region, with several Palestinian attacks – which have left three dead in two days -, and clashes between the Israeli police and Muslim worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque, in occupied east Jerusalem, during the month of Ramadan. EFE
sga/pd
