JERUSALEM - Israel launched artillery strikes on Syria Sunday morning after several rockets were fired from there and landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Israeli army announced. Israel’s strike and the rocket attacks from Syria – which no one has claimed – are the latest episode in escalating violence in the region. “In response to the rockets fired from Syria at Israel earlier today, IDF Artillery is currently striking in Syrian territory,” the military tweeted. A drone was also “currently striking the launchers in Syria from which rockets were launched into Israeli territory”. Six rockets were launched towards Israel Saturday night, with two landing in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the army said. At least one was intercepted by the Israeli air-defence system.
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The 1,200 square kilometre (460 square mile) region – patrolled by Israeli soldiers and bordering Lebanon – was seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel later annexed it in a move that was never recognised by the international community. The surge in violence and unrest comes as the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Jewish Passover, and Christian Easter coincide. On Wednesday, Israeli police stormed the prayer hall of Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, in a pre-dawn raid aimed at dislodging “law-breaking youths masked agitators” they said had barricaded themselves inside.The next day, more than 30 rockets were fired from Lebanese soil into Israel, which the Israeli army blamed on Palestinian groups, saying it was most likely Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. Israel then bombarded Gaza and southern Lebanon, targeting “terror infrastructures” that it said belonged to Hamas. It was the biggest salvo fired from Lebanon since Israel fought a devastating 34-day war with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in 2006 and the first time Israel has confirmed an attack on Lebanese territory since April 2022. Israel and Lebanon are technically in a state of war, and the ceasefire line is patrolled by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), deployed in the country’s south. On the Syrian side, Israel has recently intensified its raids targeting positions of pro-Iranian groups. On Friday evening, an Italian tourist was killed and seven other people injured in a suspected car-ramming attack on pedestrians on the Tel Aviv seafront. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the police to “mobilise all reserve border police units”.
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He also directed the army to “mobilise additional forces”, his office said. Earlier Friday, two British-Israeli sisters aged 16 and 20 were killed and their mother seriously wounded when their car was fired on in the Jordan Valley in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Police said four reserve battalions of border police would be deployed in city centres from Sunday.