Israel Strikes Syrian Military Targets in Retaliation for Rockets Fired From Syria

Israeli soldiers keep guard in Jordan Valley, the eastern-most part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank that borders Jordan on June 26, 2019. (Ammar Awad/Reuters)

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it had carried out “wide-scale strikes” on targets in Syria belonging to Iranian forces. The strikes were in retaliation for four rockets fired at Israel from Syria the day before.

“We just carried out wide-scale strikes of Iranian Quds Force & Syrian Armed Forces targets in Syria in response to the rockets fired at Israel by an Iranian force in Syria last night,” the Israeli military said in a series of Twitter posts on Tuesday night.

The strike destroyed a number of Syrian aerial defense batteries, according to the army. The targets included surface-to-air missiles, headquarters, weapons depots, and military bases, Israel’s military spokesperson Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee said on Twitter.

“We hold the Syrian regime responsible for the actions that take place in Syrian territory and warn them against allowing further attacks against Israel. We will continue operating firmly and for as long as necessary against the Iranian entrenchment in Syria,” the army said.

Syria’s state news agency SANA said that it’s country’s air defenses were able to destroy most of the missiles fired by Israeli jets over the capital Damascus before they reached their targets while citing a military source. It said three people were injured as a result of the Israeli counter-attack.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told The Times of Israel in a statement that, “I have made clear that any who attack us—we will attack them. That is what we did tonight towards military targets of the Iranian Quds force and Syrian military targets.”

Earlier in the day, the Israeli army said it had intercepted four rockets fired from Syria toward northern Israel. It said that the attack did not hit any Israeli communities.

The Syrian rocket strikes on Israel came hours after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States will no longer view Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law. However, it is not clear whether the strikes are linked with the comments.

Reuters contributed to this report.