In the early hours of Sunday morning, Israeli jets struck multiple Syrian military targets in response to rockets that had been launched towards Israeli-controlled territory overnight.
State media in Syria reported explosions in the vicinity of the capital, Damascus, while Israel claimed that it continued to hit Syrian territory after six rockets were fired towards the Golan Heights.
According to Israeli officials, artillery and drone strikes were deployed to hit the rocket launchers, followed by airstrikes against a Syrian army compound, military radar systems, and artillery posts.
In a statement, the Israeli Defense Forces said that “the State of Syria [is] responsible for all activities occurring within its territory and will not allow any attempts to violate Israeli sovereignty.”
The Syrian defence ministry confirmed that its air defences had responded to the Israeli attacks, and had intercepted some Israeli missiles. It said that no casualties had been reported, with only material damage caused by the strikes.
The rocket launch from Syrian territory triggered sirens near towns in the Golan Heights, but no damage or casualties were reported. Israel seized the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed the 1,200-square-km (460-square-mile) territory in 1981, a move not recognized by most of the international community.
Reports suggest that the rockets were launched by Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement.
This comes just days after more than 30 rockets were fired towards Israel from southern Lebanon, leading to cross-border counterstrikes from Israel on sites linked to the Islamist movement Hamas in Lebanon and Gaza.
The recent exchanges of fire between Israel and Palestinian groups have been sparked by the Israeli police raids on the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which have drawn widespread condemnation across the Arab world.
Despite fears of further violence around the mosque on Saturday, there were no reports of serious disturbances overnight.
In a separate incident, a Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces during a confrontation in the occupied West Bank, according to both the Israeli military and the Palestinian health ministry.
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