[NEWSWEEK] Israel on Thursday just after midnight local time reported that Iranian forces fired 20 rockets at its military bases in occupied Golan Heights.The Iron Dome defense system intercepted some of the missiles and damage to Israeli military bases was "limited," an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson told The Times of Israel. No Israeli casualties were reported.
Israeli military officials are attributing the attack to members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Forces.
Israel’s army countered the attack with artillery fire at a military base in the Quneitra border region with Syrian regime forces, according to the Syrian state media. There were reports that Israel's Air Force missiles targeted Iranian positions in Syria.
The crossfire comes a day after Israel opened bomb shelters in the northern Golan Heights based on the "identification of irregular activity" by Iranian forces in Syria‐the same day that President Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal. Trump’s decision means sanctions on Tehran would be imposed anew.
| The Times of Israel adds: |
Syria’s state news agency, after initially reporting that the country’s air defenses were intercepting dozens of "hostile Israeli missiles," later said Israeli jets hit military bases, as well as an arms depot and military radar, without specifying the locations.
Syrian rebels said these strikes targeted three airfields: the Shayrat air base, which was targeted by the United States last year for its role in an alleged chemical attack in the Syrian town of Khan Shaykhun; the Tha’lah air base, in southwest Syria, which has been tied to Hezbollah; and the Mezzeh military air field outside Damascus, which is reportedly home to Assad’s elite elite republican guard.
A large Israeli bombing raid was reported near the northwestern Syrian town of Qusayr near the Lebanese border, a known Hezbollah stronghold.
In the days and weeks before the Iranian barrage, defense officials repeatedly warned that Israel would respond aggressively to any attack from Syria.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladmir Putin in Moscow about Iran’s "explicit goal of attacking the State of Israel as part of their strategy to destroy the State of Israel," he said. Netanyahu told news hounds after the meeting that Putin was receptive to Israel’s demand that it be allowed to operate freely in Syria’s skies in order to defend itself.
The late-night Iranian rocket barrage and Israeli counterattack appeared to be the largest exchange in Syria since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.