Israel attacks dozens of Iranian targets in Syria after rocket attack blamed on Tehran, prompting US to offer support
Rocket attack on the Israeli military in the occupied Golan Heights marked the first time Iranian forces had hit Israel from Syria
The Israeli military on Thursday said it attacked nearly all of Iran’s military installations in neighbouring Syria in response to an Iranian rocket barrage on Israeli positions in the occupied Golan Heights, in the most serious military confrontation between the two bitter enemies to date.
Israel said the targets of the strikes, its largest in Syria since the 1973 war, included weapons storage, logistics sites and intelligence centres used by elite Iranian forces in Syria. It also said it destroyed several Syrian air-defence systems after coming under heavy fire and that none of its warplanes were hit.
Iranian media described the attacks as “unprecedented” but there was no official Iranian comment on Israel’s claims.
The United States on Thursday condemned Iran’s “provocative rocket attacks” from Syria and supported Israel’s right to defend itself.
“The Iranian regime’s deployment into Syria of offensive rocket and missile systems aimed at Israel is an unacceptable and highly dangerous development for the entire Middle East,” the White House said in a statement.
Syria’s foreign ministry said the Israeli strikes on its territory marked a “new phase” of direct involvement in the country’s seven-year conflict.