Tensions rise as Israel claims Iran fired rockets from Syria
TIBERIAS, Israel — Confrontation between Israel and Iranian forces in Syria sharply escalated in the early hours of Thursday as Israel said Iran launched a barrage of 20 missiles toward its positions on the Golan Heights.
Heavy military jet activity, explosions and air-defense fire could be heard throughout the night in the area. An Israeli military spokesman said the rockets were fired by Iran’s Quds force, a special forces unit affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, marking the first time that Iranian forces have ever fired directly on the Israeli troops.
The Israeli military said several of the rockets had been intercepted by Israel’s missile defense system. Sparks could be seen as they broke up in the sky.
No one was injured on the Israeli side, the military said.
The Syrian state news agency, however, reported that it was Israel that had fired on targets near the town of Quneitra, located just east of the Golan Heights. Syrian air defenses had responded, it said. It later reported a “new wave” of attacks.
The Israeli military said it “views this event with great severity and remains prepared for a wide variety of scenarios.”
Air-raid sirens sounded in the Golan Heights shortly after midnight. In nearby Tiberias, on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, explosions could be heard above the music of bars entertaining busloads of tourists. The explosions were followed by sporadic fire into the early-morning hours.
With Syria’s civil war raging just across the border, Israeli residents of the Golan Heights have become used to the air-raid sirens and errant fire. But recent days have been different, and war jitters have spread across Israel.
On Wednesday, it had seemed like business as usual on the Golan, a plat- eau that rises dramatically behind the Sea of Galilee, captured from Syria by Israel in the 1967 war. Children went to school and wineries welcomed groups of tourists
But Israel trucked in tanks and additional air defense batteries, and the military chief of staff touched down in a helicopter to tour the area to assess the army’s readiness.
On Tuesday, an airstrike widely attributed to Israel reportedly killed eight Iranian soldiers after Israel said it had detected unusual Iranian troop movements across the border and had intelligence about a possible attack from Syrian soil.
Iran had threatened to retaliate against Israel after an airstrike in April that killed seven Iranian soldiers at a base in Syria.
President Donald Trump’s decision on Tuesday to pull the United States out of the nuclear deal with Iran has given Tehran less reason to exercise caution in confronting Israel, analysts said.