The Israeli military launched airstrikes and artillery fire on southern Syria overnight after two projectiles were fired into Israeli territory from across the border.
The Israeli army said the rockets, which triggered sirens in the southern Golan Heights, landed in open areas without causing damage or injuries. In response, Israeli jets and artillery hit targets in the Yarmouk Basin, in Syria’s Daraa province, near Quneitra.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa was “directly responsible” for the incident and warned of further retaliation.
Syrian state media confirmed Israeli shelling in the area, while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that farmland was struck but no casualties were recorded.
This marks the first rocket fire from Syria into Israel since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December. Sharaa, who previously led the Islamist faction that overthrew Assad, is viewed by Israel as heading a hostile, jihadist-leaning regime.
Israel has ramped up strikes in Syria since Assad’s ouster, claiming it aims to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to the new leadership. The Israeli military said operations in southern Syria are ongoing to “dismantle terrorist infrastructure” and protect the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981.
Syria and Israel remain technically at war, with no formal peace treaty since 1948.