Israel military says 2 projectiles crossed from Syria, fell in open spaces
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he held Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa responsible after the military said two projectiles launched from Syria on Tuesday.
"We consider the president of Syria directly responsible for any threat and fire toward the State of Israel, and a full response will come soon," Katz said.
Syria and Israel have recently engaged in direct talks to ease tensions, a significant development in relations between states that have been on opposite sides of conflict in the Middle East for decades.
The Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement that reports of the launches towards the Israeli side "have not been verified yet," reiterating that Syria has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region, the state news agency SANA reported.
However, it was not immediately clear who was responsible for the projectiles.
"We believe that there are many parties that may seek to destabilize the region to achieve their own interests," the ministry added.
The Israeli military earlier said that two projectiles crossed from Syria towards Israel and fell in open areas.
Several Arab and Palestinian media outlets circulated a claim of responsibility from a little-known group named "Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades," an apparent reference to Hamas' military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024.
Reuters could not independently verify the statement.
The Israeli army shortly after said it attacked southern Syria with artillery fire following the projectiles that were launched on Israel.
Syrian state media said Israel struck an area in the southern Daraa province, an attack the Syrian foreign ministry later said resulted in "significant human and material losses."
Local residents said Israeli mortars were striking the Wadi Yarmouk area, west of Daraa province, near the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The area has witnessed increased tensions in recent weeks, including reported Israeli military incursions into nearby villages, where residents have reportedly been barred from sowing their crops.
Israel has waged a campaign of aerial bombardment that destroyed much of the country's military infrastructure that intensified under the new leadership.
It also has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and taken more territory in the aftermath of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December, citing lingering concerns over the extremist past of the country's new rulers.
Around the same time that Israel reported the projectiles from Syria, the military said it intercepted a missile from Yemen.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said they targeted Israel's Jaffa with a ballistic missile. The group has been launching attacks against Israel in what they say is in support of Palestinians during the Israeli war in Gaza.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
37 minutes ago
- The Hindu
EU official says €175 million Syria recovery package 'clear message' of support
Visiting EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica said Thursday (June 5, 2025) that a 175 million euro package for war-torn Syria was a "clear message" of support for its reconstruction. Ms. Suica announced the package in Damascus on Wednesday (June 4, 2025), saying it would focus on sectors including energy, education, health and agriculture, helping rebuild Syria's economy, support its institutions and promote human rights. "I came here... with a clear message that we are here to assist and help Syria on its recovery," Ms. Suica told AFP in an interview on Thursday (June 5, 2025). "We want that reconstruction and recovery will be Syria-owned and Syria-led," she said, on the first visit by an EU commissioner since a transitional government was unveiled in late March. "We want to see Syria to be a regular, normal, democratic country in the future," she added. Syria has been navigating a delicate transition since Islamist-led forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December after nearly 14 years of civil war. The European Union announced last month it would lift economic sanctions on Syria in a bid to help its recovery. "This is a pivotal moment — a new chapter in EU-Syria relations," Ms. Suica said on X, calling her meeting with interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa "constructive". Like Syria's neighbours, Western governments are keen to steer it onto the road to stability after the war triggered an exodus of millions of refugees. Refugee returns should be "safe, voluntary and dignified", Ms. Suica said. The EU has not designated Syria as a safe country for returns "because we don't want to push people to come here and then they don't have a home", she said. The EU last month sanctioned three Syrian militia groups and two of their leaders for serious human rights abuses over their alleged involvement in sectarian massacres in the costal heartland of the Alawite minority, to which Assad belongs, in March. "We cannot pronounce one part of Syria safe and another not," Ms. Suica said, noting that designating Syria a safe country needs "unanimity among 27 European member states". She said Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani would attend a ministerial meeting involving almost a dozen Mediterranean countries in Brussels on June 23. A statement released on Wednesday (June 4, 2025) said that the European Commission was "actively pursuing the integration of Syria into several key initiatives with its Mediterranean partner countries". "We want to see Syria united" and inclusive, Ms. Suica told AFP. "This is a process. It will happen step by step."
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Lebanon says dismantled 'more than 500' Hezbollah installations in south
Prime minister of Lebanon Nawaf Salam (Image credi: X/Nawaf Salam) Prime minister Nawaf Salam said on Thursday that the Lebanese army had dismantled "more than 500 military positions and arms depots" belonging to Hezbollah in the south of the country. In a televised address marking 100 days in office, Salam said his government was pressing ahead with reforms demanded by the international community. "The state continues its action... to restore its authority over the entire national territory... and to have a monopoly on arms," he said. "The Lebanese army is continuing its deployment and has so far dismantled more than 500 military positions and arms depots south of the Litani river" about 30 kilometres from the Israeli border. Under a November ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group was required to pull its fighters out of the area and dismantle its military infrastructure south of the Litani. Israel was meant to withdraw from all Lebanese territory but has remained in five positions along the border and continues to carry out strikes, saying it targets Hezbollah, which was severely weakened in the war. "There can be no security or stability while Israel's daily violations persist, parts of our land remain occupied and our prisoners are not freed," said Salam. The prime minister said Lebanon also planned to disarm Palestinian refugee camps, which lie outside the state's control. In addition, he said the government's economic recovery plan was no "fantasy" but based on fixing past mistakes and overhauling the financial and banking system. He said parliament had adopted a law lifting banking secrecy -- a key demand of the International Monetary Fund -- and that the government approved legislation to restructure the sector. International donors have made these reforms a condition for unlocking billions of dollars to help Lebanon recover from a crippling financial crisis that began in 2019, fuelled by state mismanagement and entrenched corruption.
Deccan Herald
2 hours ago
- Deccan Herald
Israeli military recovers bodies of two victims of October 7 attack
The two victims, Judi Weinstein Haggai and Gadi Haggai, were in their 70s when they were killed by members of the Mujahedeen Brigades, a small Palestinian militant group.
