Israeli army reports attack on military site in southern Syria

JERUSALEM

The Israeli army announced on Friday that it had attacked a "military site" in southern Syria.

In a brief statement, the army said that it “attacked, during the hours last night, a military site in the Tasil area in southern Syria.”

It added that the attack was "in response to a rocket fired towards the southern Golan Heights, which landed in an open area without causing any casualties."

The army did not provide further information about the site.

A fire broke out late Thursday in the occupied Golan Heights following the launch of a rocket from Syrian territory, according to Israeli media reports.

Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily cited the Golan Regional Council as saying that a rocket launched from Syria exploded in the Dalit Junction area.

There was no comment from Syria, which frequently faces Israeli airstrikes targeting its forces along with Iranian troops in the country.

While it is rare for rockets to be launched from Syria into the plateau, the Lebanese Hezbollah group has claimed responsibility for attacking Israeli targets in the occupied region on multiple occasions.

There are growing fears of a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah amid an exchange of cross-border attacks between the two sides.

The escalation comes against the backdrop of a deadly Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip which has killed more than 38,300 people since last October, following an attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi