Houston Chronicle

6 killed in Syria after Israeli retaliatio­n

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DAMASCUS, Syria — Israeli airstrikes in southern Syria killed six people and wounded seven, Syrian state TV reported Friday, in retaliatio­n for a rocket attack on Israel the previous day that Israeli officials blamed on militants backed by Iran.

Four rockets exploded in an open field in northern Galilee on Thursday. There were no injuries, but it was the first time since the 1973 Mideast war that rockets from Syria have slammed into Israel. There was no immediate claim of responsibi­lity for the attack.

Syrian state TV said an Israeli drone strike on Friday targeted a “civilian car” close to a busy market in the village of Kom, killing five people. Ahmad Sheikh Abdul-Qader, governor of the southern region of Quneitra, said the attack happened on the road leading to the village of Khan Arnabeh, near Kom, and destroyed the car.

The Britain-based Syrian Observator­y for Human Rights, which tracks the country’s war, said the five dead were members of the pro-government National Defense Forces.

Syrian state TV also said an Israeli air raid overnight in Quneitra killed a soldier and wounded seven.

The Israeli military did not comment on the reported casualties but said it carried out a raid Friday morning on “part of the terror cell responsibl­e for the rocket fire at northern Israel.”

Also Friday, Israel submitted a demarche to the United States and five other nations that negotiated last month’s Iran nuclear deal, blaming Tehran for Thursday’s rocket attack from Syria. The rare diplomatic action comes as Israel is increasing­ly at odds with its U.S. ally over the nuclear deal.

In the demarche, Israel said it has “credible informatio­n that the attack was carried out by the Palestinia­n Islamic Jihad” and “was facilitate­d and directed by an Iranian operative.”

Since the rocket fire, Israel has named Saeed Izaadhi, who it says heads the Palestinia­n division of Iran’s elite Quds Force, as having orchestrat­ed the attack but has produced no evidence to back that claim.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that “the military struck the cell that carried out the shooting and the Syrian forces that allowed it. We have no intention of escalating events.”

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