Iranian forces in Syria launched a rocket attack on Israeli army bases in the Golan Heights early on Thursday, prompting one of the heaviest Israeli barrages in Syria since the conflict there began in 2011.
None of the 20 Grad and Fajr rockets fired at Israel landed in Israeli territory, IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis updated Thursday morning. Four of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, he said.
One TV station, Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen, said at least 50 missiles were fired from Syria at Israeli forces in the Golan Heights. Al-Ikhbariya TV said missiles targeted 10 Israeli positions.
The Quds Force, an external arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, carried out the launch, Manelis said.
"The Quds Force paid a heavy price, it will take the Iranians a long time to recover," Manelis said. He described the Israeli counterstrike, in which over 50 targets across Syria were destroyed, as "one of the air force's largest operations in recent decades."
The attack on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, just past midnight, marked the first time Iranian forces have attacked Israel from Syria, where they have deployed along with Iran-backed Shiite militias and Russian troops to support Syrian President Bashar Assad in the seven-year-old civil war.
Syrian state media said dozens of Israeli missile strikes hit a radar station, Syrian air defense positions and an ammunition dump, underscoring the risks of a wider escalation involving Iran and its regional allies.
The Iranian attack was "commanded and ordered by [Quds Force General] Qassem Soleimani and it has not achieved its purpose," IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told reporters.
Israel struck back by destroying dozens of Iranian military sites in Syria, Conricus said, as well as Syrian anti-aircraft units that tried unsuccessfully to shoot down Israeli planes.
"We do not know yet the [Iranian] casualty count," he said.
"But I can say that in terms of our purpose, we focused less on personnel and more on capabilities and hardware ... to inflict long-term damage on the Iranian military establishment in Syria. We assess it will take substantial time to replenish."
Tensions between Israel and Iran had already spilled over in Syria, worrying Russia, which wants to stabilize Assad's rule.
Iran vowed retaliation after a suspected Israeli air strike last month killed seven of its military personnel on a Syrian air base. Israel regards Iran as its biggest threat, and has repeatedly targeted Iranian forces and allied militia in Syria, including Hezbollah.
Russia warned
Thursday's flare-up came hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from a visit to Moscow, where he discussed Syrian concerns with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Conricus said Israel forewarned Russia of its strikes on Thursday, which Syrian state media first reported hit Baath City in Quneitra, near the border. Further waves of missiles followed. Syrian state media said Israeli missiles had been brought down over Damascus, Homs and Sueida.
"Air defenses confronted tens of Israeli rockets and some of them reached their target and destroyed one of the radar sites," Syrian state news agency SANA reported, citing a military source. Another rocket hit an ammunition warehouse, it said.
Asked whether Israel had attacked near Damascus or scrambled communications there, an Israeli military spokeswoman said: "I have no comment on that at this time."
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov on Thursday called on the sides to de-escalate, the TASS news agency said.
"This is all very alarming, it causes concern. There should be work to de-escalate the tensions," TASS quoted Bogdanov as saying.
Syrian state television broadcast footage of its air defenses firing, and played patriotic songs. Damascus residents described explosions in the sky from air defense systems.
Israeli media said residents of Metula, on the Lebanese border, had been instructed to go to bomb shelters. There was no official confirmation.
Lebanon's National News Agency, citing Lebanese Army Command, reported Israeli jets circling over Lebanese territory early on Thursday before exiting.
Iranian officials offered no immediate comment on the Quds Force missile attack. Iranian state media reported on the attack and the subsequent Israeli strikes in Syria, relying on foreign news reports.
Amos Gilead, a retired senior Israeli defense official, told a security conference in the coastal town of Herzliya that Iran's intentions in Syria meant a wider conflagration may only be a matter of time.
"They want to build a second Hezbollah-stan," he said. "They are determined to do it, and we are determined to prevent it. It means we are on a collision course."
