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Syrian state media reported that Israel shelled the western
countryside of Syria’s Daraa province after the rocket launch.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war
monitor, also reported Israeli airstrikes that caused “violent
explosions” around the city of Quneitra and in the Daraa
countryside.
A group calling itself the Mohammed Deif Brigades — named after
a Hamas military leader killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza last
year — claimed the attack in a post on Telegram. The group first
surfaced on social media a few days before.
“Until now, it’s just a Telegram channel. It’s not known if it
is a real group,” said Ahmed Aba Zeid, a Syrian researcher who
has studied armed factions in southern Syria.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that
Israel considers “the Syrian president directly responsible for
every threat and firing toward the State of Israel” and warned
of a “full response” to come “as soon as possible.”
Israel has been suspicious of the Islamist former insurgents who
formed the new Syrian government, led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa,
and has launched hundreds of airstrikes on Syria and seized a
U.N.-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory since Assad’s
fall.
Syria’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the
state-run TV channel that it has “not yet verified the accuracy”
of the reports of strikes launched from Syria toward Israel.
“We affirm that Syria has not and will not pose a threat to any
party in the region,” the statement said. It condemned the
Israeli shelling, which it said had resulted in “significant
human and material losses.”
The U.S., which has warmed to al-Sharaa's government and
recently moved to lift some sanctions previously imposed on
Syria, has pushed for Syria to normalize relations with Israel.
In a recent interview with the Jewish Journal, al-Sharaa said he
wants to see a return to a 1974 ceasefire agreement between the
two countries but stopped short of proposing immediate
normalization, saying that “peace must be earned through mutual
respect, not fear.”
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