Four rockets landed in northern Israel on Thursday afternoon after being shot from Syria, the IDF has confirmed. Yesterday’s rockets marked the first time since 1973 that there was deliberate rocket fire from Syria into Israeli territory.
No injuries were reported, but one of the explosions sparked a fire near an Israeli town.
The Israeli military confirmed in a statement that “four rockets were launched from the Syrian Golan Heights, landing in the upper Galilee and the Israeli Golan Heights”.
According to the IDF, two of the rockets hit Israel’s northern Galilee and two landed in the Golan Heights, with no casualties reported.
Reports state that two of the rockets landed near a kibbutz in the Hula Valley in the Upper Galilee, causing a fire.
Soldiers were dispatched to the area to locate the rockets immediately after the attack and determine where they came from. Israel’s Channel 2 reports that residents were instructed to stay in their homes.
There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket fire, however Israel has accused Islamic Jihad of orchestrating the attack.
The rocket attack has prompted the IDF to hit strategic targets across the Syrian border in response.
According to Channel 2 news, the rockets were shot intentionally and not as part of spillover from the Syrian civil war.
Earlier on Thursday, sirens sounded in several towns on the Israel-Lebanon border, including Gonen, Kfar Bloom, Lehavot HaBashan, Kfar Szold. In the morning, Israel’s air force announced it had deployed an Iron Dome missile defense battery to Ashdod in southern Israel. Gaza security coordinators received warnings on Wednesday of possible rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
While southern Israel has experienced several rocket sirens in recent weeks, they are rarer in the north. In April, two mortars landed in northern Israel, which proved to be errant shells from fighting in Syria.
