Israeli strikes on Syria kill 10, monitor says

ISRAELI strikes targeting Syria on Sunday left 10 people dead, including three Syrian soldiers and seven foreign fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Two rockets were fired from Syria at Mount Hermon late on Saturday, with the Israeli army saying in a Sunday statement that one of them was “located within Israeli territory”.

In re s ponse, t he ar my attacked “two Syrian artillery batteries, a number of observation and intelligence posts on the Golan Heights, and an SA-2 aerial defense battery,” the statement said.

“During the strikes, an Israeli aerial defence system was activated due to Syrian anti-aircraft shooting. None of the rockets exploded in Israel.”

A statement from the military said it held the Syrian regime accountable “for every action taken against Israel”.

The Syrian army’s anti-aircraft defence was activated on Sunday against “enemy missiles” fired from Israel at “posi t i ons” i n southwest Damascus, the official Sana news agency quoted a military source as saying.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said “warehouses and positions” in the Kesswa region, where Syrian and Iranian forces and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters allied to Damascus have been stationed, were targeted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the strike at Syria

“We won’t tolerate fire at our territory, and respond forcefully to any aggression against us,” he said.

Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria, most of them against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets.

Israel says it is determined to prevent its arch foe Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, where Tehran backs President Bashar al-Assad in the country’s eight-year war which has killed more than 370,000 people.

The Jewish state insists that it has the right to continue to target positions in Syria held by Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

On May 27 Syria said Israel carried out a missile attack in Quneitra, in what the Israeli army said was retaliation for anti-aircraft fire targeting one of its fighter jets.

Syrian air defence batteries intercepted projectiles coming from Israel and downed a number of them on May 17, according to SANA.

The Syr ian province of Quneitra includes the Golan Heights, most of which is occupied and annexed by Israel.

The latest reported strike comes amid soaring tensions in the region between Iran and the US.

T he st a nd-of f had been simmering since the US last year withdrew from the 2015 nuclea r t reat y which I r a n reached w it h major world powers.

In recent weeks the US accused Iran of alleged threats and deployed an aircraft carrier group and B-52 bombers to the Gulf.