At least 4 rockets launched from Syria to northern Israel (IDF)

At least four rockets were launched from Syria towards northern Israel on Thursday evening, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson said in a statement.

"Four rockets were launched from the Syrian Golan Heights and landed in the Upper Galilee and the Israeli Golan Heights," the statement read. "No injuries have been reported."

Despite initial reports by Israel media outlets that claimed the rockets were launched from Lebanon, the military now believes they were launched from Syria and is investigating further into the circumstances of the incident, scanning along with the Israeli police for more projectiles in the area.

Sirens sounded off in several communities in the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel around 6 pm local time (1600 GMT). Reports in Israeli media said at least two rockets exploded near two Israeli communities in northern Israel. Residents of the nearby communities were asked by local authorities to remain inside their homes for 10 minutes after the attack.

No damages to structures or property were reported, but local bushfires did break out in the area, the Walla! news website reported. Security officials in Israel told the Channel 10 news they believe that the rockets were launched with intention rather than spillover from the fighting in nearby Syria amid the country's four-year civil war.

In the past several years several rockets and mortars landed in northern Israel from Syria, some as a result of the civil war in Syria, but others believed to be intentionally perpetrated by Jihadist and Hezbollah affiliates in Syria and Lebanon. No substantial injuries or damages were reported. There were several attacks against Israeli soldiers, mainly from Lebanon.

Israeli officials recently warned of an increasing threat in Israel's northern borders due to what they claim is Iran's growing involvement with funneling funds to Hezbollah, a militant Shi'ite organization in southern Lebanon, and other militant organizations in the region.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, during a visit to the IDF's northern command, talked about the threat, referring to a comment he said Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made to Hezbollah chief that the recent nuclear agreement between Iran and the international community "creates an historic opportunity to stand up to the Zionist entity."

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon added that the atmosphere is not quiet in the Golan heights along the Syrian border. "Those who strive for tensions are the Iranians, who trying to operate through proxies in order to carry out attacks against us," Ya'alon said during the same event on Wednesday.

On a related matter, the IDF deployed Iron Dome anti-missile batteries earlier Thursday, both in the southern coastal city of Ashdod and the southern town of Be'er Sheva, amid fears of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip over the high-profile affair in case hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner would die.

Israel's top court on Wednesday suspended the administrative detention of Mohammad Allan, who went on a 64-day hunger strike amid the terms of his detention.

Allan is currently hospitalized in the Barzilay hospital in the southern city of Ashkelon, where doctors estimated he had suffered from brain damage, but did not determine whether it was reversible. He had regained consciousness earlier on Thursday, with a slight improvement reported to his condition.
  Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
20- 21/8/15
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Related:

• Syrian state TV confirms Israeli strikes on Golan, reporting that only material damage had been inflicted.

The IDF launched artillery fire at targets in Syria on Thursday evening hours after four rockets were fired from the country deep into northern Israel, with the IDF saying Syria would suffer the consequences for rocket strikes on the Israeli home front.

Two of the rockets struck open areas in the Golan Heights and two others landed in the Upper Galilee far from the border with Syria. The IDF said they were fired at Israel from the center of the Syrian Golan Heights.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Office said Thursday that “we see Syria as responsible [for the rockets] and they will suffer the consequences.”
  jpost.com 
20/8/15