Iranian forces in Syria launched a rocket attack on Israeli army bases in the Golan Heights early on Thursday, Israel said, prompting one of the heaviest Israeli barrages against Syria since the conflict there began in 2011.
The attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, just past midnight, marked the first time Iranian forces have hit Israel from Syria, where they have deployed along with Iran-backed Shiite militias and Russian troops to support President Bashar Assad in the countryтАЩs civil war.
Dozens of Israeli missiles hit a radar station, Syrian air defense positions and an ammunition dump, Syrian state media said, underscoring the risks of a wider escalation involving Iran and its regional allies.
тАЬI hope we finished this chapter and everyone got the message,тАЭ Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said at the Herzliya security conference, near Tel Aviv, on Thursday morning.
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. The Quds Force, an external arm of IranтАЩs Revolutionary Guards, carried out the launch, Israel said.
тАЬIt was commanded and ordered by (Quds Force chief General) Qassem Soleimani and it has not achieved its purpose,тАЭ military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told reporters.
Israel struck back by destroying dozens of Iranian military sites in Syria, Conricus said, as well as Syrian anti-aircraft units that tried unsuccessfully to shoot down Israeli planes. тАЬWe do not know yet the (Iranian) casualty count,тАЭ he said.
тАЬBut 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.тАЭ
Israeli schools in the Golan Heights opened as usual on Thursday morning, after sirens had sent residents to shelters during the night.
тАЬI do not reside on the border of New Zealand-Australia. We are located here facing Syria and Lebanon and this is the reality which we will overcome together, especially with the IDF (Israel Defense Forces),тАЭ said Alex Gudish, a Golan settler.
The US on Thursday condemned IranтАЩs тАЬprovocative rocket attacksтАЭ from Syria and supported IsraelтАЩs right to defend itself.
тАЬThe Iranian regimeтАЩs deployment into Syria of offensive rocket and missile systems aimed at Israel is an unacceptable and highly dangerous development for the entire Middle East,тАЭ the White House said in a statement. It said IranтАЩs Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps тАЬbears full responsibility for the consequences of its reckless actions.тАЭ
Britain condemned тАЬin the strongest termsтАЭ the suspected Iranian rocket attack against Israeli positions in the Golan Heights. In a statement Thursday, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson urged Iran to refrain from actions that could destabilize the region. Johnson also called on Russia to press the Syrian government, its ally, to work toward a broader political settlement. The UK has also warned against тАЬfurther escalationsтАЭ between Iran and Israel.
French President Emmanuel Macron called for a de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East.┬атАЬThe president has been kept regularly updated. He calls for a de-escalation in the situation,тАЭ Macron’s office said in a statement.
Macron will discuss the Middle East in a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel later on Thursday, the Elysee said.
Later German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the latest escalation of hostilities was a matter of тАЬwar and peaceтАЭ for the region.
тАЬThe escalation of the last hours show us that itтАЩs really about war and peace,тАЭ said Merkel.
Russia also responded expressing its concerns over the growing military tensions between Israel and Iran.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted on Thursday by TASS: тАЬThis is all very alarming, it causes concern. There should be work to de-escalate the tensions.тАЭ
A top official from Bahrain said it is IsraelтАЩs тАЬrightтАЭ to defend itself after Israel launched overnight strikes on Iranian targets in Syria. Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa wrote on Twitter Thursday that so long as Iran uses its forces and missiles to try and destabilize the region, тАЬit is the right of any country in the region, including Israel to defend itself by destroying sources of danger.тАЭ
‘Right decision’
The Israelis fear that Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah are turning Syria into a new front against them. Israel says its occasional strikes in Syria aim to foil that.
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.
Expectations of a regional flare-up were stoked by US President Donald TrumpтАЩs 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.
The Trump administration cast its hard line against the Iranian nuclear deal as a response, in part, to TehranтАЩs military interventions in the region.
The Golan flare-up with Israel тАЬis just further demonstration that the Iranian regime cannot be trusted and another good reminder that the president made the right decision to get out of the Iran deal,тАЭ White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told Fox News.
Russia warned
The tensions worry Russia, which wants to stabilize Syria. ThursdayтАЩs 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.
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.
тАЬAir defenses confronted tens of Israeli rockets and some of them reached their target and destroyed one of the radar sites,тАЭ Syrian state news agency SANA reported, citing a military source. Another rocket hit an ammunition warehouse, it said.
Syrian state television broadcast footage of its air defenses firing, and playing patriotic songs. Damascus residents described explosions in the sky from air defense systems.
LebanonтАЩs National News Agency reported Israeli jets circling over Lebanese territory early on Thursday before exiting. With Input Arab News
