Israeli military retaliates after rockets fired from Syria : NPR

JERUSALEM — The Israeli navy stated its forces attacked targets in Syria early Sunday after six rockets had been launched from Syrian territory in two batches towards Israel in a uncommon assault from Israel’s northeastern neighbor.

After the second barrage of three rockets, Israel initially stated it responded with artillery hearth into the world in Syria from the place the rockets had been fired. Later, the navy stated Israeli fighter jets attacked Syrian military websites, together with a compound of Syria’s 4th Division and radar and artillery posts.

The rocket firings got here after days of escalating violence on a number of fronts over pressure in Jerusalem and an Israeli police raid on town’s most delicate holy website.

Within the second barrage, which was launched early Sunday, two of the rockets crossed the border into Israel, with one being intercepted and the second touchdown in an open space, the Israeli navy stated. Within the first assault, on Saturday, one rocket landed in a area within the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Fragments of one other destroyed missile fell into Jordanian territory close to the Syrian border, Jordan’s navy reported.

There have been no experiences of casualties.

A Damascus-based Palestinian group loyal to the Syrian regime claimed duty for launching the three missiles Saturday, reported Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV.

The report quoted Al-Quds Brigade, a militia totally different than the bigger Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s armed wing with an identical title, as saying it fired the rockets to retaliate for the police raid on Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In Syria, an adviser to President Bashar Assad described the rocket strikes as “a part of the earlier, current and persevering with response to the brutal enemy.”

Israel, which has vowed to cease Iranian entrenchment in Syria, has carried out tons of of strikes in government-controlled components of that nation lately, although it hardly ever acknowledges them. Earlier than the newest strikes, Syrian officers had attributed 10 assaults to Israel this yr, a few of which put the Damascus and Aleppo airports briefly out of service and killed civilians in addition to Syrian troopers and Iranian navy advisers.

Within the occupied West Financial institution, Israeli safety forces fatally shot a 20-year-old Palestinian within the city of Azzun, Palestinian well being officers stated, stirring protests within the space. The Israeli navy stated troops fired at Palestinians hurling stones and explosive gadgets. The Palestinian Well being Ministry recognized the Palestinian killed as Ayed Salim.

His dying got here at a time of unusually heightened violence within the West Financial institution. Over 90 Palestinians and have been killed by Israeli hearth to this point this yr, a minimum of half of them affiliated with militant teams, based on a tally by The Related Press.

Palestinian assaults on Israelis have killed 19 folks in that point — together with on Friday two British-Israelis shot to dying close to a settlement within the Jordan Valley and an Italian vacationer killed by a suspected car-ramming in Tel Aviv. All however one had been civilians.

The rocket hearth from Syria comes in opposition to the backdrop of hovering Israeli-Palestinian tensions touched off by an Israeli police raid on Jerusalem’s most delicate website, the sacred compound house to the Al-Aqsa mosque. That outraged Palestinians marking the holy fasting month of Ramadan and prompted militants in Lebanon — in addition to Palestinian militants within the Gaza Strip — to fireplace a heavy barrage of rockets into Israel.

In retaliation, Israeli warplanes struck websites allegedly linked to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and southern Lebanon.

Late Saturday, tensions ran excessive in Jerusalem as just a few hundred Palestinian worshipers barricaded themselves within the mosque, which sits on a hilltop within the coronary heart of Jerusalem’s Previous Metropolis sacred to each Muslims and Jews. Israeli police efforts to evict the worshipers locked within the mosque in a single day with stockpiled firecrackers and stones spiraled into unrest within the holy website earlier this week.

The newest escalations prompted Israeli Protection Minister Yoav Gallant to increase a closure barring entrance to Israel for Palestinians from the occupied West Financial institution and Gaza Strip all through the Jewish vacation of Passover, whereas police beefed up forces in Jerusalem on the eve of delicate non secular celebrations.

In a separate incident within the northern West Financial institution metropolis of Nablus late Saturday, a frontrunner of a neighborhood unbiased armed group often called the Lion’s Den claimed the group executed an alleged Israeli collaborator who had tipped off the Israeli navy to the places and actions of the group’s members. Israeli safety forces have focused and killed a number of of the group’s key members in current months.

The accused man’s killing couldn’t be instantly confirmed, however movies in Palestinian media confirmed medics and residents gathered round his bloodied physique within the Previous Metropolis, the place the Lion’s Den holds sway. “Traitors have neither a rustic nor a folks,” Lion’s Den commander Oday Azizi stated in a press release.

The strikes come at a time of heightened non secular fervor – with Ramadan coinciding with Passover and Easter celebrations. Jerusalem’s Previous Metropolis, house to key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy websites, has been teeming with guests and spiritual pilgrims from world wide.

Gallant stated {that a} closure imposed final Wednesday, on the eve of Passover, would stay in impact till the vacation ends on Wednesday night time. The order prevents Palestinians from coming into Israel for work or to wish in Jerusalem this week, although mass prayers had been permitted on the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday. Gallant additionally ordered the Israeli navy to be ready to help Israeli police. The military later introduced that it was deploying extra troops round Jerusalem and within the West Financial institution.

Over 2,000 police had been anticipated to be deployed in Jerusalem on Sunday – when tens of 1000’s of Jews are anticipated to assemble on the Western Wall for the particular Passover priestly blessing. The Western Wall is the holiest website the place Jews can pray and sits subsequent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the place giant crowds collect every day for prayers throughout Ramadan.

Jerusalem police chief Doron Turgeman met together with his commanders on Saturday for a safety evaluation. He accused the Hamas militant group, which guidelines the Gaza Strip, of attempting to incite violence forward of Sunday’s priestly blessing with false claims that Jews deliberate to storm the mosque.

“We are going to permit the liberty of worship and we’ll permit the arrival of Muslims to wish,” he stated, including that police “will act with dedication and sensitivity” to make sure that all faiths can have a good time safely.

The present spherical of violence erupted earlier within the week after Israeli police raided the mosque, firing tear gasoline and stun grenades to disperse tons of of Palestinians who had barricaded themselves inside. Violent scenes from the raid sparked unrest within the contested capital and outrage throughout the Arab world.