Israel attacked the Syrian regime’s military positions in the country's southern region of Quneitra early Sunday, killing three soldiers and wounding seven others, Syria's state-run media reported.
Israel's military confirmed it targeted several positions in Syria, including two artillery batteries, several observation and intelligence posts and an SA2 air defense unit. It said it was responding to two rockets launched from Syria late Saturday, which caused no casualties. The army said one rocket fell within Israeli-controlled territory but didn't explode.
The Syrian state news agency SANA, quoting an unnamed military official, said the attacks struck military positions in Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. They also caused material damage, it said.
This is the latest such exchange amid heightened tension in the region over Iran's role in Syria and other parts of the Middle East.
Soon after the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he'd ordered the strikes. "We will not tolerate firing into our territory and will respond fiercely against any aggression against us," he said in a statement.
It was a rare public acknowledgement of Israeli strikes in Syria soon after they happened but is the second in a little over a week, both sparked by claims that fire was directed at Israel from inside Syria. On May 26, Israel said its aircraft had hit a Syrian military post in response to anti-aircraft fire against one of its combat planes. One Syrian soldier was killed, according to state-run media.
In recent years, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria against its regional arch foe Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which it calls the biggest threat to its borders.
Iran and Hezbollah are fighting on Assad’s side in the Syrian war.
