BEIRUT: Israel carried out air strikes in Syria on Sunday in response to rare rocket fire from the neighbouring country, its military said, with a war monitor reporting 10 killed including Syrian soldiers and foreign fighters.

Israel’s army said two rockets were fired from Syria at Mount Hermon in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights late on Saturday and one had been “located within Israeli territory”.

In response, the army attacked “two Syrian artillery batteries, a number of observation and intelligence posts on the Golan Heights, and an SA-2 aerial defence battery”, its statement said.

The Israeli attack left three Syrian soldiers and seven foreign fighters dead, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

According to the Britain-based war monitor, which did not specify the nationality of the foreign fighters, they died in missile strikes close to the capital Damascus where Syrian troops, Iranian forces and Hezbollah fighters are stationed.

Syrian anti-aircraft defences fired against “enemy missiles” from Israel targeting positions in southwest Damascus, the official SANA news agency quoted a military source as saying.

The Israeli army said its own aerial defence systems were activated due to the Syrian anti-aircraft fire, but none of the Syrian fire hit Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the strikes.

Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria, most of them against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2019