Israel strikes Syria after stray rockets land in Golan

Israel bombs Syrian army positions in response to ‘misfired’ rockets that landed in the Israeli-occupied territory.

Fighting in Syria
Heavy fighting in Syria sent two stray rockets into Israeli-occupied Golan Heights [EPA]

Israel has targeted at least two military installations in air strikes in neighbouring Syria, according to the Israeli military. 

The Israeli military issued a statement claiming that it had struck two military positions controlled by the Syrian government in response to stray rockets that landed in the 70 percent of the Golan Heights occupied by Israel.

Writing on his Twitter, Israeli army spokesman Peter Lerner said that two rockets – one on Saturday and a second on Sunday evening – were “misfired” into the Israeli-occupied territory. Neither rocket resulted in any injuries or damages. 

Yet the statement said that Israel “holds the Syrian military responsible for all events stemming from its territory and will not tolerate any attempt to harm Israel’s sovereignty and the safety of its residents”. 

According to a spokesman for the Syrian Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) in Quinetra and Golan, a local alliance of armed opposition groups, the Israeli air strikes targeted at least “three areas with three missiles,” adding that “warplanes are flying above [the Syrian side of Golan] now”. 

RCC spokesman Abu Ali al-Jawlani confirmed that the Israeli attack targeted Syrian government-held military sites in an area where forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have clashed with opposition groups in recent weeks. 

“There is an ongoing battle in the area north of Quneitra,” Jawlani told Al Jazeera, explaining that whoever wins that area will control key routes that “connect Quneitra all the way to the countryside of Damascus”. 

The Israeli military also launched attacks in the area on August 20, when helicopters fired rockets and hit a car in a village near Quneitra. 

Israel claimed that it struck five Palestinians from the Islamic Jihad movement who had fired rockets into the Golan and the Galilee region of northern Israel the day before. Syrian officials, however, said that the five who died were civilians. 

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies