Israel bombs Syria after attack on the Golan Heights

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched a series of air strikes against targets in southern Syria on Wednesday night in response to a rocket fired from Syrian territory that hit an open field in the Golan Heights on Tuesday. Although no injuries or material damage were reported, the incident marks a new escalation in the already volatile border between the two countries. 

The Israeli army attributed direct responsibility to the Syrian regime. ‘The Syrian regime is responsible for the current situation in Syria,’ it said in a statement. Along the same lines, Defence Minister Israel Katz blamed Damascus leaders for the growing tension, accusing them of facilitating attacks that threaten Israel's security. 

The Israeli offensive targeted areas in the Yarmouk basin in the western part of the province of Daraa, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA. Explosions were also reported around the city of Quneitra and other areas in the south of the country. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described the bombings as ‘violent,’ saying they shook large areas of southern Syria between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. 

However, Syrian authorities denied any involvement in the rocket launch. ‘Syria has never been and will never be a threat to anyone in the region,’ said the Foreign Ministry, which also denounced that certain unidentified actors are deliberately seeking to destabilise the region for their own ends. The ministry stressed that its priority in the south of the country is ‘to extend the authority of the state and put an end to the presence of weapons outside the framework of official institutions’. 

This launch from Syria represents the first attack of its kind since President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in December. His successor, Ahmed al-Sharaa, previously led the Islamist faction that began the offensive that led to the fall of the regime. 

Following the Israeli bombings, the Syrian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the operation on the Daraa Governorate, calling it an act of aggression that caused ‘enormous human and material losses.’ It reiterated that Syria ‘does not and will not pose a threat to any party’ and urged the international community to stop what it considers a violation of its sovereignty.