An Israeli soldier stands next to Merkava Mark IV tanks in a deployment area near the Syrian border in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on May 10, 2018. Israel’s army said today it had carried out widespread raids against Iranian targets in Syria overnight after rocket fire towards its forces it blamed on Iran, marking a sharp escalation between the two enemies. Israel carried out the raids after it said around 20 rockets, either Fajr or Grad type, were fired from Syria at its forces in the occupied Golan Heights at around midnight. / AFP PHOTO
Washington on Thursday condemned Iran for rocket fire targeting Israeli forces in the occupied Golan Heights, and voiced its “strong support” for Israel’s right to retaliate in “self-defense.”
An combo of images released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) early on May 10, 2018 purportedly shows what the official news agency said was air defence systems intercepting Israeli missiles over Syrian airspace, without specifying the location.
Israeli missile strikes fired at Syria hit military bases, as well as an arms depot and military radar, Syrian state media said on May 10.
SANA added that “dozens of missiles were shot down by anti-aircraft systems in Syrian airspace,” saying a number of missiles had reached their targets.
/ AFP PHOTO / SANA / Handout / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE – MANDATORY CREDIT “AFP PHOTO
Israel has blamed Iran for the rocket attacks, and hit back Thursday with deadly raids against what it said were Iranian targets in Syria.
“The United States condemns the Iranian regime’s provocative rocket attacks from Syria against Israeli citizens, and we strongly support Israel’s right to act in self-defense,” said a White House statement.
The rocket attack in the Golan Heights and the retaliatory Israeli air strikes marked a sharp escalation in the mounting tensions between Iran and Israel.
It came two days after President Donald Trump, ignoring the advice of his European allies, announced that the United States was withdrawing from a 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran.
The Israeli military said its warplanes struck 70 targets inside Syria, one of the biggest such operations in years. A British-based human rights monitor said 23 fighters were killed.
Russia, France and Germany called for restraint, insisting there be no further escalation.
The US statement, however, laid the blame squarely on Iran and urged “all nations to make clear that the Iranian regime’s action pose a severe threat to international peace and stability.”
“The Iranian regime’s deployment into Syria of offensive rocket and missile systems aimed at Israel is an unacceptable and highly dangerous development for the entire Middle East.
“Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) bears full responsibility for the consequences of its reckless actions, and we call on the IRGC and its militant proxies, including Hezbollah, to take no further provocative steps,” it said.
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