Iranians and Israelis swap fire at border

Iranian forces based in Syria fired 20 rockets at Israeli frontline military positions in the Golan Heights early yesterday, the Israeli military said, triggering an Israeli reprisal and further escalating heightened tensions.

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 fired the rockets at several Israeli bases, though he would not say how Israel determined the Iranian involvement. The incoming attack set off air raid sirens in the Israeli-controlled Golan, which was captured from Syria in the 1967 war.

Israel ‘‘views this Iranian attack very severely,’’ Conricus told reporters. He said Israel had responded, but did not provide details.

‘‘This event is not over,’’ he said.

Syria’s state media said Syrian air defences had intercepted ‘‘hostile Israeli missiles’’ early yesterday that were fired over southwestern Damascus. Hours later, state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV broadcast a live feed of Syrian air defences firing into the sky above the capital.

Syrian media earlier said the hostilities began with Israeli fire at Syrian positions in southern Syria from across the border. ProSyrian media said Syrian missiles then fired at Israeli forces. One TV station, Beirutbased Al-Mayadeen, said at least

50 missiles were fired from Syria at Israeli forces in the Golan Heights. Al-Ikhbariya TV said missiles targeted 10 Israeli positions. Syrian media said it was the first time in years that Syrians had fired at Israeli forces in the Golan Heights.

Israel has been on heightened alert in recent days, anticipating an Iranian attack following Iranian vows to retaliate to what it says are recent Israeli strikes in Syria targeting Iranian outposts.

Late Tuesday, Syrian state media said Israel struck a military outpost near the capital of Damascus. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the missiles targeted depots and rocket launchers that likely belonged to Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard, killing at least

15 people, eight of them Iranians. Last month, an attack on Syria’s T4 air base killed seven Iranian military personnel. On April 30, Israel was said to have struck government outposts in northern Syria, killing more than a dozen pro-government fighters, many of them Iranians. –AP