Iran, Israel fire off rocket duel over Syria
Jerusalem knocks out vital military facilities, materiel of Tehran
JERUSALEM— Iranian forces in Syria launched rocket attacks on Israeli bases in the Golan Heights on Thursday, prompting a rocket duel over Syria which has been racked by a seven-year civil war.
The attack on the Golan Heights marked the first time Iranian forces hit Israel from Syria, where they are deployed in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Israel said 20 Iranian Grad and Fajr rockets were shot down by its Iron Dome air defense system or fell short of the Golan targets.
Counterstrike
“[The attack] was commanded and ordered by (Gen.) Qassem Soleimani and it has not achieved its purpose,” said military spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus.
Conricus was referring to the commander of the Quds Force, an external arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Shortly after midnight, Israel struck back with dozens of Israeli missiles hitting a radar station, Syrian air defense positions and an ammunition dump, Syrian state media said.
Syrian state media Sana said the first missiles hit Baath City in Quneitra, near the border, followed by further waves of missiles.
“Air defenses confronted tens of Israeli rockets and some of them reached their target and destroyed one of the radar sites,” Sana reported.
Another rocket hit an ammunition warehouse, it said.
“We do not know yet the (Iranian) casualty count,” Conricus said.
“But I can say that in terms of our purpose, we focussed less on personnel and more on capabilities and hardware,” he added.
Retaliation
The Iranian attack was apparently in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday on an Iranian military base in Kisweh, near Damascus, that resulted in the death of 15 people, including eight Iranians.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the Kisweh attack and only reiterated its fear that Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah are turning Syria into a new front.—