Israel hits multiple targets in Syria after rocket attacks overnight

Israel responded by carrying out air strikes against Iranian targets in Syria.

The Israeli military said the targets included “intelligence sites, military warehouses, and Iranian targets and Syrian surface-to-air missile batteries”.

Iran has been backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country’s civil war, and Israel has vowed to stop what it says are Iran’s efforts to establish a military presence in Syria.

The latest rocket attack came just hours after Israel marked its Independence Day with a display of military might, including an air show in which its newest warplanes took part.

The Israeli military said the rockets were intercepted by its Iron Dome missile defence system, and that there were no reports of any injuries.

The Syrian military said it shot down most of the rockets, but did not mention any damage or casualties.

The rocket attack follows a briefing by the head of the Israeli military’s intelligence branch on Thursday in which he warned of “escalation towards a wider conflict”.

“We are constantly changing the nature of our responses,” Maj Gen Tamir Hayman was quoted as saying. “The reality in Syria in the last two months indicates that we are moving into a new phase of this campaign.”

The Israeli military has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria in recent years targeting Iranian and Iranian-backed forces, as well as military infrastructure, installations and weapons shipments.

The two countries have been fighting a shadow war for years, with Israel carrying out regular strikes on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities and assassinating its nuclear scientists, while Tehran has backed a number of armed groups in the region.

Tensions between Israel and Iran have risen sharply in recent weeks, with the two sides accusing each other of cyber attacks, and Israel reportedly sabotaging an Iranian nuclear facility.



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