Updated 6/4/2025 2:00 PM Eastern
For the first time since the regime change in Syria in December and the subsequent Israeli invasion of the southwest frontier of the country, Israel reported rocket attacks against their territory, in the occupied Golan Heights, coming from Syrian soil.
The rockets set off sirens in Ramat and Haspin, though they were said to have landed in an open area without causing any injuries. Israel responded with artillery strikes against both Quneitra and Daraa Governorates, saying they were targeting the “source of the rockets.”
It’s not clear that the Israeli shelling hit anyone either, with initial reports saying they simply hit agricultural areas in the western part of Daraa. Syria’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement later in the day claiming “significant human and material losses” though without elaborating. No casualties were reported at the time of the incident, and no subsequent reports have detailed specific damage.
Defense Minister Israel Katz says he’s holding Syria’s leader, President Ahmed al-Sharaa, directly responsible for the incident, and warned that Israel’s “full response” would be coming soon.
Israel has launched an enormous number of attacks against targets inside Syria since regime change, on top of the ongoing ground invasion. It’s not clear how the full response will go above and beyond what they’re already doing, though drones were reportedly sighted in the southwest following the artillery fire.
Israeli media reported that the rocket fire came from “deep” inside Syria, which undercuts the IDF claim that they were targeting the source of the fire, since those artillery strikes were relatively close to the Syria-Golan frontier.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying they haven’t verified the rocket fire at Israel yet, but reiterated that Syria does not and will not pose a threat to any nation in the region. There were reports that a heretofore unknown group calling itself the Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades issued a statement claiming credit, though that has not been confirmed either.
Before this all happened, it was reported that Israeli ground troops entered the village of al-Mashirfa, in Quneitra Governorate, and stopped and searched several villagers before leaving. They provided no official explanation, nor said what they were looking for.
