The Israeli army announced on the night of Saturday April 8 to Sunday April 9 that it had struck Syria after rocket fire targeted the Israeli- annexed part of the Golan Heights.
"Artillery is striking the area of Syria from which rockets were fired into Israeli territory," the army said in a short statement.
A total of six rockets were fired, according to this source, which had previously indicated that the warning sirens had sounded in several localities. One of the rockets "landed in a wasteland in the southern Golan Heights" annexed by Israel, the army said in a short statement. These shots, not immediately claimed, and the Israeli response illustrate the strong resurgence of violence currently affecting the Middle East.
As of Thursday, around 30 rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, injuring one person and causing material damage, sparking an unprecedented escalation on the Israeli-Lebanese front since 2006. The Israeli army said the unclaimed firing were "Palestinian", and most likely from the ruling Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The army retaliated by carrying out strikes in Gaza and southern Lebanon. Israel and Lebanon are technically in a state of war after different conflicts and the ceasefire line is monitored by the United Nations Interim Force, deployed in southern Lebanon.
Two attacks on Friday
This new outbreak of violence comes after the brutal irruption of Israeli forces in the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on Wednesday, in the middle of Ramadan, which aroused numerous condemnations.
The Palestinian Health Ministry reported on Saturday that a Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the northern occupied West Bank. The 20-year-old died of "occupation" (Israel) bullets to the chest and stomach in Azzun, near the town of Qalqilyah, the ministry said in a short statement, without specifying the circumstances. The IDF said it conducted a routine activity in Azzun, where "suspects" threw "an explosive device" at its soldiers. The latter "retaliated by opening fire". The army said in its statement that "one affected person has been identified", and that there were no injuries in its ranks.
On Friday evening, a car bombing in Tel Aviv claimed the life of an Italian and injured seven people, according to the Israeli police. Earlier Friday, two Israeli-British sisters were killed in another attack in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense confirmed on Saturday evening that it was mobilizing soldiers to support the police and announced that it would tighten entry restrictions into Israel for Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including workers.
Since the beginning of January, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of at least 92 Palestinians, eighteen Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian, according to a count by Agence France-Presse compiled from official Israeli and Palestinian sources.
