The Israeli army says it launched artillery strikes against Syria after several rockets were fired from Syrian territory towards northern Israel, causing no damage or casualties.
Cross-border exchanges got underway early Sunday as violence escalated on multiple fronts, including in Gaza, Lebanon, occupied East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government.
The Israeli army said it had launched artillery strikes and a drone against the missile launchers in Syria.
There were two rounds of rocket launches from Syrian territory in the early hours of Sunday, it said. The first involved three missiles, one of which landed in a field in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
The second launch, which also involved three missiles, set off sirens in northern Israel. There were no reports of casualties.
Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen TV said the rocket launches were claimed by Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement.
The rocket fire from Syria comes amid rising Israeli-Palestinian tensions caused by Israeli police raids on the grounds of the Al-Aqsa mosque.
The site in Jerusalem’s Old City, sacred to both Muslims and Jews, who know it as the Temple Mount, has long been a focal point, particularly over the issue of Jewish visitors defying a ban on non-Muslim prayer at the mosque.
The raids came at a time of heightened religious fervor — with Ramadan coinciding with the Jewish holiday of Passover and Christian Easter celebrations. Violent scenes from the attacks enraged Palestinians during the holy fasting month of Ramadan and prompted armed groups in Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip to fire a barrage of rockets at Israel.
The Israeli army then bombed several sites it said belonged to the Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza and southern Lebanon.
Gideon Levy, an Israeli journalist and author, told Al Jazeera that tensions between Israel and its neighbors were at a critical point.
“The situation is extremely explosive,” he said.
“Unlike the previous years, we are dealing with a very radical government, which is quite powerful on the one hand, and very fragile on the other, because the most radical parts of it are pushing for action that could end in catastrophe “, he said. , referring to the ultra-nationalist government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The scenes from the Al-Aqsa Mosque were scenes not seen in recent years in their brutality and I think any small match can now set fire to the entire area. Hopefully it won’t happen, but no one can guarantee that it won’t,” he said.
Levy also noted that Israel has launched hundreds of attacks against what it says are Iran-affiliated groups in Syria, bombing ports and airports, including the main facility in Aleppo that had been a gateway for aid shipments since the deadly earthquakes that hit northern Syria. hit. and southern Turkey on February 6.
“There is no public discussion about this (incursions into Syria) in Israel and there is no information about it in Israel. Nobody knows why and in what form and what the price is,” says Levy.
“One thing is clear. Israel is violating Syrian sovereignty and Israel is playing with fire with Iran. How long will the Syrians and Iranians tolerate this?”
The regional tensions also come as violence has also escalated in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israeli security forces shot dead a 20-year-old Palestinian in the occupied northern West Bank on Saturday, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Ahed Salim, 20, was hit in the chest and abdomen by sharp fire in Azzun near Qalqilyah, the ministry said.
Earlier in the day, four Palestinians were also injured when Israeli settlers threw stones at their cars at a checkpoint at the entrance to the town of Al-Bireh.
The Wafa news agency reported additional attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian homes and vehicles in the town of Deir Ballout.
Israel is also tense after a car crash in Tel Aviv on Friday that killed an Italian man and injured five other tourists. The Tel Aviv attack came hours after a Palestinian man shot dead two Israeli sisters and wounded their mother near an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.
Amid the escalation, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has extended a lockdown barring entry into Israel for Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip for the duration of Passover, while police reinforced troops in Jerusalem on the eve of sensitive religious celebrations.
However, mass prayers were allowed in Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday and Saturday.
More than 2,000 police officers were expected to be deployed to Jerusalem on Sunday — when tens of thousands of Jews are expected to gather at the Western Wall on the grounds of Al-Aqsa for the special Passover priestly blessing.
(TagsToTranslate)News
