The Israeli army on Monday announced it had carried out strikes on military structures inside Syria, raising fears that its fight against Hamas could spark a wider regional conflict.
The military said, “A short time ago, an IDF fighter jet attacked the launchers” from where attacks originated overnight towards Israeli territory.
The Israeli jet “struck military infrastructure in Syrian territory”, it said.
The army did not disclose any information, but Israeli public channel Kan News reported that the strikes occurred in the southern Syrian city of Daraa.
Confirming the attack, Syria’s defence ministry on Monday stated that Israel struck at around 1:35 am (2335 GMT) “from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting two positions of our armed forces in the Daraa countryside, causing some material losses”.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor noted that Israel targeted army structures, including “an artillery battalion” in Daraa province, in response to shelling on the nearby occupied Golan Heights.
Concerns are mounting about the regional ramifications of Israel’s Gaza war on Hamas.
Since the beginning of the Gaza conflict, there have been a series of strikes on US soldiers in Iraq and Syria, as well as increased exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces on the Lebanon border.
Late Sunday, the Israeli military stated its intentions to strike “Hezbollah terrorist targets in Lebanon”, also in response to rocket fire.
Since October 7, when Hamas militants from Gaza surged into southern Israel, killing over 1,400 people, largely civilians, and seizing nearly 240 captives, cross-border exchanges with Hezbollah have become virtually regular occurrences.
Israel has retaliated with an unrelenting bombing of Gaza, which, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, has killed over 8,000 people, over half of whom are children.
According to reports, cross-border violence has killed at least 61 people in Lebanon since the Hamas attack.
The majority of the dead were Hezbollah members, but four civilians, including one journalist, were also killed.
According to Israeli sources, four people were killed, one of whom was a civilian.
Nearly 29,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon due to the clashes, according to the International Organization for Migration.
