Israel attacks Syrian targets after projectiles launched toward its territory
Israel hit southern Syria with a series of strikes overnight from Tuesday into Wednesday, saying it had targeted weapons belonging to Syrian authorities after the launch of projectiles towards its territory
Israel launched the two attacks after reporting projectiles had been fired from Syria on Tuesday. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the two projectiles.
A Syrian state news agency and security sources reported a series of Israeli strikes, targeting several sites in the Damascus countryside and Quneitra and Daraa. They came days after an Israeli strike killed a civilian near a village in western Syria in the first such attack in nearly a month.
Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, had said earlier that he held Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa responsible for the two projectile launches.
'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.
The Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement that reports of the launches towards Israel had not been verified yet and reiterated that Syria has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region, the state news agency Sana reported.
'We believe that there are many parties that may seek to destabilise the region to achieve their own interests,' the Syrian foreign ministry said.
Syria and Israel have recently engaged in direct talks to ease tensions, a significant development in relations between the two countries that have been on opposite sides of conflict in the Middle East for decades.
Several Arab and Palestinian media outlets circulated a claim of responsibility for the projectiles fired on Tuesday to a little-known group, 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.
Syrian state media earlier reported an Israeli strike 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 Syria's military infrastructure. It has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since 1967 and has 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.
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