Israel unleashes strikes on Syria after projectile launches

Japan Times

3 days ago

The Israeli military said in a statement it struck weapons belonging to the Syrian regime in southern Syria, in a second attack that Israel launched after reporting two projectiles were fired from its neighbor on Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the two projectiles.
Syrian state news agency and security sources reported a series of Israeli strikes, the first major ones in nearly a month, targeting several sites in the Damascus countryside and Quneitra and Daraa.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz had said earlier that he held Syrian President Ahmad 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 toward 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 destabilize the region to achieve their own interests," the Syrian foreign ministry added.
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 Israeli military earlier said that two projectiles crossed from Syria toward 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.
The statement could not be independently verified.
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 also has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and taken more territory in the aftermath of former Syrian President Bashar 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 Israeli 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 says it has been launching attacks against Israel in support of Palestinians during the Israeli war in Gaza.