Jerusalem: The Israeli Air Force struck the Syrian army’s artillery posts late Tuesday in response to an earlier rocket attack from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, the military said Wednesday.
“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) holds the Syrian government accountable for all attacks emanating from its land, and will operate by any means necessary to defend Israeli civilians,” Xinhua reported citing the IDF statement.
“Such blatant breaches of Israeli sovereignty will not be tolerated,” said the statement.
A rocket alert siren was also heard after midnight Wednesday on the Golan Heights, though the IDF said no rockets landed in Israeli-controlled territory.
Meanwhile, the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV also reported the air strikes, saying the targeted military sites are located near the Tal Shahem town in Syria’s southern province of Qunaitera.
No casualties were caused by the strikes, according to the report.
On Tuesday afternoon, four rockets were fired from Syria and two of them exploded in open areas of Israel’s Golan Heights. The IDF responded with artillery fire, and identified a hit on the source of the rockets.
Israeli security forces said Hezbollah and Syrian forces orchestrated the rocket attack in retaliation to an alleged Israeli air strike last week in Syria, which killed a Hezbollah commander and an Iranian general.
While reacting to the rocket attacks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will defend itself from future attacks.
“If you play with fire, you’ll be hit by fire,” he warned.