Israeli Airstrikes Kill 10 in Syria After Cross-Border Rocket Fire

Three Syrian soldiers, seven foreigners reported killed in attacks

After a pair of rockets fired from Syrian territory hit Mount Hermon, Israel responded with a flurry of attacks along the Golan Heights frontier, killing at least 10 people within Syria, including three Syrian soldiers.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that in addition to the Syrian soldiers, the other seven were “foreign fighters,” saying that they were Hezbollah or Iranian. Within the context of Israeli reports, “Iranian” fighters often means Iraqi Shi’ite militia members.

Of the two rockets fired at Mount Harmon, only one actually landed in Israeli territory. It was expected that the rockets were aimed at an Israeli military outpost, but it doesn’t seem that anything was hit.

Israel regularly attacks targets within Syria, but only publicly confirms responsibility for the strikes when they have a putative justification. Such attacks generally focus on Hezbollah and Iran-linked groups.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.