After rocket attack on Golan Heights by Iranian forces, Israel pounds Syria with missiles

The rocket attack, just past midnight, marked the first time Iranian forces have hit Israel from Syria.

Israel struck back heavily after Iranian forces in Syria launched a rocket attack on its army bases in the Golan Heights early on Thursday.

The attack, just past midnight, marked the first time Iranian forces have hit Israel from Syria, where they have been deployed along with Shia militias and Russian troops to support President Bashar al-Assad in the seven-year-old civil war.

A wider escalation in wait

Syrian state media said dozens of Israeli missile strikes hit a radar station, Syrian air defence positions and an ammunition dump, underscoring the risks of a wider escalation involving Iran and its regional allies.

Israel said the Iranian salvo of 20 Grad and Fajr rockets were shot down by its Iron Dome air defence system or fell short of the Golan targets. The Quds Force, an external arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, carried out the launch, Israel said.

“It was commanded and ordered by [Quds Force chief General] Qassem Soleimani and its has not achieved its purpose,” military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told reporters.

In one of its heaviest barrages in Syria since the conflict there began in 2011, Israel destroyed dozens of Iranian military sites in Syria, Lieutenant Colonel Conricus said, as well as Syrian anti-aircraft units that tried unsuccessfully to shoot down Israeli planes.

“We do not know yet the [Iranian] casualty count,” he said. “But I can say that in terms of our purpose, we focussed less on personnel and more on capabilities and hardware ... to inflict long-term damage on the Iranian military establishment in Syria. We assess it will take substantial time to replenish.”

Russia concerned

Tensions between Israel and Iran had already spilled over in Syria, worrying Russia, which want to stabilise Mr. Assad’s rule.

Iran vowed retaliation after a suspected Israeli air strike last month killed seven of its military personnel in a Syrian air base. Israel regards Iran as its biggest threat, and has repeatedly targeted Iranian forces and allied militia in Syria.

Thursday’s flare-up came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from a visit to Moscow, where he discussed Syria concerns with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Lieutenant-Colonel Conricus said Israel forewarned Russia of its strikes on Thursday, which Syrian state media first reported hit Baath City in Quneitra, near the border. Further waves of missiles followed. Syrian state media said Israeli missiles had been brought down over Damascus, Homs and Sueida.

Barrage of Israeli rockets

“Air defences confronted tens of Israeli rockets and some of them reached their target and destroyed one of the radar sites,” Syrian state news agency SANA reported, citing a military source. Another rocket hit an ammunition warehouse, it said.

Asked whether Israel had attacked near Damascus or scrambled communications there, an Israeli military spokeswoman said: “I have no comment on that at this time.”

Syrian state television was broadcasting footage of its air defences firing, and playing patriotic songs. Damascus residents described explosions in the sky from air defence systems.

Israeli media said residents of Metulla, on the Lebanese border, had been instructed to go to bomb shelters. There was no official confirmation.

Lebanon’s National News Agency, citing Lebanese Army Command, reported Israeli jets circling over Lebanese territory early on Thursday before exiting.

Lebanese-Syrian front against Israel?

Fearing that Iran and Hezbollah are setting up a Lebanese-Syrian front against it, Israel has occasionally struck at their forces.

Expectations of a regional flare-up were stoked by U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement on Tuesday that he was withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear deal. Hours later, Israeli rocket rockets targeted a military base in Kisweh, a commander in the pro-Syrian government regional alliance said.

That attack killed 15 people, including eight Iranians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, though the commander said there were no casualties. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.