The Israel Defence Forces confirmed in the early hours of the 9th that it had bombed southern Syria, targeting the area where six rockets had been fired earlier into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The Syrian military subsequently confirmed that the attack caused damage to some facilities.
The Israel Defence Forces stated that on the evening of the 8th and the early morning of the 9th, six rockets were fired from southern Syria towards the Golan Heights. The rockets are fired in two rounds, hours apart.
The Israeli army said that among the rockets fired on the evening of the 8th, one landed in an open field on a farm in the northern Golan Heights, and the other two landed in Syria and Jordan, respectively. Among the rockets launched in the early morning of the 9th, one was intercepted by the Israeli “Iron Dome” defence system, one landed in the open area of the Golan Heights, and the other exploded over Syria. The regional council of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights said there were no casualties in the incident.
According to Lebanon’s “Plaza” TV station, the Holy City Brigade under the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Organisation (Jihad) “claimed” the above-mentioned rocket attack.
The Syrian military issued a statement on the 9th saying that Israel launched multiple missiles from the direction of the Golan Heights it occupied to the southern part of Syria early that day, and the Syrian air defense system shot down some of the missiles. The attack caused damage to some facilities. The statement gave no further details on where the attack took place.
The Golan Heights is a narrow strip of land in southwestern Syria. Israel occupied this strategic location in the third Middle East war in 1967, exercised control and jurisdiction over it, and refused to return it to Syria. The international community generally does not recognise the area as Israeli territory.