Flashpoint in Golan Heights as Israel accuses Iranian forces of launching rocket attack from Syrian soil
Israel said it had launched unspecified reprisals after blaming Iran for firing 20 rockets at its forces
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 an Israeli reprisal and further escalating heightened tensions between the two bitter enemies in neighbouring Syria.
The Israeli military said its Iron Dome rocket defence system intercepted some of the incoming projectiles, while others caused only minimal damage. There were no Israeli casualties.
Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said Iran’s Al Quds force had fired the rockets at several Israeli bases, though he would not say how Israel had determined the Iranian involvement. The incoming attack set off air raid sirens in the Israeli-controlled Golan.
Israel “views this Iranian attack very severely,” Conricus told reporters. He said Israel had responded, but did not provide details.
Syria’s state news agency said early Thursday that Syrian air defences had intercepted “hostile Israeli missiles,” and Syrian media later said the missiles were fired over southwestern Damascus.
