Middle East
A salvo of rockets is fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza towards Israel on October 10, 2023. Photo: Mahmud Hams/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Unidentified actors launched a rocket attack from Syria, targeting Israeli positions in the occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday evening, prompting a response from the Israeli forces which fired back with artillery and mortar shells toward the origin of the strike.
This marks the first exchange of fire between the two countries since the beginning of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement, sparked by the armed wing of the movement’s surprise attack against Israel on Saturday.
“Attacks, rockets were fired from Syria into Israel. We do not yet know if these rockets were fired by the Syrian National Army (SNA), by any of the many Iranian militias that exist and are welcomed by the Syrian regime or Hezbollah or any other faction. What we do know is that we retaliated towards the sources of fire and currently the situation there is quiet and let’s hope that it remains that way,” said IDF Spokesperson Jonathan Conricus in a situational update on X, formerly Twitter.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the attack on Israel from Syria was carried out by “Palestinian factions working with the Lebanese Hezbollah,” noting that the region has witnessed “extensive movements” of the Lebanese militants for a few days.
Israel captured Syria’s Golan Heights territory in 1967 during the Six-Day War and annexed it in 1981. The United Nations does not recognize the annexation of the area.
The occupied Golan Heights have often been used by Israel as a launching base for airstrikes against Syria. Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on regime-controlled areas of Syria throughout its 11-year civil war, often claiming to strike pro-Iran militias, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah which supports the Syrian army.
Israel - Lebanon fire
On Wednesday morning the IDF reported that an anti-tank missile was launched from Lebanon toward one of their military posts next to the community of Arab al-Aramshe located on the UN-Drawn Blue Line, demarcating the border between Lebanon and Israel.
Hours later Lebanon's National News Agency reported that “The town of al-Dhahira is being subjected to enemy artillery shelling, while the vicinity of the town of Yarin is being bombarded with phosphorus shells.”
The firing of rockets and anti-tank missiles from Lebanon in previous days resulted in Israeli strikes on three Hezbollah observation posts. On Wednesday, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for Monday’s attacks on an Israeli site facing the recently targeted Lebanese area of al-Dhahira, in a statement by the group’s media relations office, carried by Lebanese media outlet Al-Manar.
“The Islamic Resistance reiterates its determination to provide a firm and unyielding response to Israeli assaults that threaten the security of our homeland and the well-being of our citizens, particularly when such actions result in the tragic loss of our martyrs,” said the statement.
On Monday, Hezbollah reported the killing of three of its members in Israeli strikes targeting south of Lebanon following the attempt of Palestinian militants to cross the border.
Iraqi militia threatens strike on American bases
Iraqi hardline pro-Iran militia Kataib Hezbollah on Tuesday threatened to attack American bases on Iraqi soil if the US intervenes in the Israel-Gaza war, in a statement by the milita’s Secretary-General Ahmad Mohsen Faraj al-Hamidawi (aka Abu Hussein).
“Our rockets, drones, and special forces are ready to strike the American enemy in its bases and disrupt its interests if it intervenes in this battle,” read the statement, adding that “known locations of the Zionist entity and its helpers will come under the fire of our mortars, if necessary.”
Kataib Hezbollah is a prominent Iraqi militia which was described by the Washington institute in 2021 as the “ strongest individual faction” in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic). The militia operates under the “direct command” of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and engages in active warfare as well as media and social operations, according to the institute.
The threat comes after Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, another Iraqi militia described by the Washington Institute in 2021 as a splinter of Kataib Hezbollah, warned the US against coming to Israel’s aid in the war in a statement on Sunday.
Hamas has called on “resistance fighters” in Arab countries to join its campaign dubbed “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood” against Israel while the US has reiterated its support for Israel, with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announcing that Washington would be sending equipment and munitions to Israel, the first shipment of which arrived at Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel on Tuesday.
Over 2,000 people have been reported dead on both sides since Saturday, when Hamas militants launched a multi-pronged air, ground, and sea offensive and penetrated into Israeli territory on Saturday at dawn, resulting in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration the following day that the country was “embarking on a long and difficult war.”
The Israeli army has reported over 1,200 dead while Palestinian officials have placed their death toll at 1,055.
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