Israel carried out a series of strikes in southern Syria during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, targeting weapons allegedly belonging to the Syrian authorities following the firing of projectiles towards Israeli territory.
These attacks were launched after reports of projectiles being fired from Syria on Tuesday, but it was unclear who was responsible.
According to a Syrian state news agency and security sources, the Israeli strikes hit several locations in the Damascus countryside, as well as Quneitra and Daraa. This comes after a previous Israeli strike killed a civilian near a village in western Syria, marking the first such incident in nearly a month.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz stated that he holds Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa directly responsible for the projectile launches and warned of a full response.
The Syrian foreign ministry denied the reports of the projectile launches towards Israel, stating that Syria does not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region, as reported by the state news agency Sana.
Despite their long-standing conflict, Syria and Israel have recently engaged in direct talks to reduce tensions.
Several Arab and Palestinian media outlets attributed the launch of projectiles to a little-known group, Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades, but Reuters could not confirm this claim.
Local residents reported Israeli mortars striking the Wadi Yarmouk area, west of Daraa province, near the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, an area that has seen increased tensions recently.
Israel has launched a campaign of aerial bombardment in Syria and has occupied the Golan Heights since 1967, claiming ongoing concerns about the extremist past of Syria’s new rulers.
