The Israeli army said it had intercepted four incoming rockets from Syria on Tuesday, and the explosions were heard shortly after that in Damasco, a week after another Israeli attack on the top Palestinian militant in the Syrian capital.
Israeli air defense systems intercepted the missiles, the army said, and the Israeli communities in the Golan Heights were not affected after warning sirens woke up early in the morning. There was no immediate official comment from Syria, but SANA’s state news agency reported explosions near Damasco International Airport, indicating a potential Israeli retaliatory strike.
Speaking on Israel Army Radio, Foreign Minister Israel Katz was equally vague, saying that “Israel should behave as it sees fit.”
The rare rocket fire comes a week after an Israeli air strike against a senior Palestinian militant based in Syria. Akram al-Ajouri, a member of the leadership of a militant Islamic Jihad group living in exile, survived the attack, but his son and granddaughter were killed.
It all comes in the midst of the heightened tensions between Israel and Iran’s proxies along its borders. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently issued a series of warnings about Iranian aggression across the Middle East.
Iran has forces based in Syria, Israel’s northern neighbor, and supports Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. In Gaza, it supplies Islamic Jihad with cash, weapons and expertise.
