Four projectiles were fired at northern Israel from Syria in the predawn hours of Tuesday morning, the Israel Defense Forces said. All four were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
The Israeli military believes the rockets were fired by Iran or one of its proxies.
“Four launches were seen from Syrian territory toward Israeli territory that were shot down by soldiers operating the Iron Dome missile defense system,” the military said in a statement.
The army said it was unlikely that any projectiles had landed inside Israel’s borders. The apparent attack triggered sirens in the northern Golan Heights and Galilee region at 4:52 a.m., sending residents rushing to bomb shelters.
The use of the Iron Dome, as opposed to Israel’s other longer-range defense systems, indicated that the incoming projectiles were short-range rockets. This could not be immediately confirmed.
Minutes later, Syrian official news agency SANA reported that explosions were heard near the Damascus airport. The state media outlet did not elaborate on what caused the blasts.
Some Syrian outlets speculated that this was an Israeli airstrike, while others said this may have been the sound of the rockets being launched at Israel.
Israel refuses to comment on the specifics of its operations against Iran in Syria.
The early morning rocket attack came after the Israeli military warned that it believed Iran intended to take more aggressive actions in the region.
After the incident, the Golan Regional Council said no special safety precautions would be put in place, following consultations with the military. The authorities urged residents to keep to their routines.
On November 12, Akram al-Ajouri, a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, was targeted in Damascus in an attack that was blamed by some on Israel. Islamic Jihad said Ajouri survived the attack, but his son was killed.
The IDF declined to comment on the Damascus attack.
The northern border has been relatively quiet since the Hezbollah terror group fired several anti-tank guided missiles at an army base and a military jeep just inside northern Israel’s border with Lebanon in September, causing no injuries.
The Times of Israel is liveblogging Tuesday’s events as they happen.
FM Katz blames Iran for rocket fire from Syria
Foreign Minister Israel Katz is blaming Iran for this morning’s rocket fire from Syria toward northern Israel.
“This incident is an Iranian operation against the State of Israel,” Katz tells the Ynet news site.
“The State of Israel will continue to act according to its policy. The policy was and remains to prevent Iran from establishing itself in the area,” he adds.
The Israel Defense Forces said four rockets were fired overnight from Syria, all of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.
Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Iranian-linked targets in Syria in recent years and top officials have repeatedly vowed to prevent Iran from entrenching itself on the Israel-Syrian border.
UN ‘alarmed’ by reports of ‘significant’ death toll in Iran protests
GENEVA — The UN rights office says that it is “alarmed” by reports that live ammunition was used against protesters in Iran and had caused a significant number of deaths across the country.
“We are especially alarmed that the use of live ammunition has allegedly caused a significant number of deaths across the country,” United Nations human rights office spokesman Rupert Colville tells reporters.
He adds that while casualty details were hard to verify, in part because of an internet shutdown in place since Saturday, Iranian media and “a number other sources” suggest that “dozens of people may have been killed” during the demonstrations.
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