In an extraordinary statement, the IDF confirmed early Monday that it attacked multiple Iranian military targets in Syria on Sunday after the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted a missile fired by Iranian forces at the Golan Heights on Sunday afternoon
The Iranians fired at Israel in response to a rare daylight Israeli airstrike near Damascus International Airport earlier Sunday. IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said the Iranians had been planning to fire at the Golan Heights for months as part of an effort to establish deterrence against the Jewish state.
"We have started striking Iranian Quds targets in Syrian territory," the IDF statement said, appearing referring to the force charged with carrying out Iran's Revolutionary Guards' overseas operations.
The statement appears to mark an end to Israel's years-long policy on ambiguity regarding activities in neighboring Syria.
"We warn the Syrian Armed Forces against attempting to harm Israeli forces or territory. The Iranian attack on Israeli territory [on Sunday] is further, clear proof about the intentions behind Iran's entrenchment efforts in Syria, and the danger it poses to the State of Israel and to regional stability. The IDF will continue to act in an aggressive and determined manner against Iranian entrenchment in Syria," the army statement said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 people were killed in the Israeli strikes early Monday. Russian media reported that at least four of the dead were Syrian soldiers.
Manelis said some of the Iranian targets were located " inside Syrian bases."
"Iran is exploiting Syria, and Syria is paying the price," Manelis said.
Syrian state media cited a Syrian military source as saying Israel launched an "intense attack through consecutive waves of [laser] guided missiles" shortly after 1 a.m, but that Syrian air defenses had destroyed most of the "hostile targets."
Witnesses in Damascus said loud explosions rang out in the night sky for nearly an hour.
The IDF said its targets included an Iranian weapons warehouse, an intelligence outpost and a training base.
Arab news outlets said the IDF fired 29 air and land-based missiles at Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Damascus and south of the Syrian capital.
On Monday, Iran's state-run news outlet reported the head of Iran's air force responding to the massive Israeli strike, saying the country was eager to fight Israel and destroy it.
"The young people in the air force are fully ready and impatient to confront the Zionist regime and eliminate it from the Earth," Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh was quoted as saying.
Until now Israel has largely refrained from public admissions of its covert military operations in neighboring Syria, in order to avoid large-scale involvement in the eight-year civil war.
Two hours after the reports that Iron Dome had intercepted Iranian missiles over the Golan Heights, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was on a state visit to Chad, issued a statement: "We have a defined policy: to harm Iranian entrenchment in Syria and to harm anyone who tries to harm us."
President Reuven Rivlin said Monday that Israel's latest airstrikes in Syria were a "direct response" to "unacceptable" missile fire.
In a Twitter post, Rivlin wrote that the Iranian missile attack was "living proof" that the Iranians were gaining a military foothold in Syria and the region as a whole.
"We will not demonstrate tolerance in the face of the safety of the citizens of Israel being violated. We will counter any attempts to attack us with determination and whatever power is necessary," Rivlin wrote.
Recently, Israeli warplanes have used Lebanon's airspace to strike deep inside Syria, including attacking a warehouse near Damascus International Airport earlier this month, according to Syrian state media.
Netanyahu recently confirmed that Israel has struck hundreds of targets in Syria linked to Iran and Hezbollah, including a weapons facility two weeks ago.
Due to the heightened tensions, the Mount Hermon ski resort on the Golan Heights will be closed throughout Monday. As of Monday morning the IDF Home Front Command had not issued any directive to civilians to alter their daily routines in light of rising tensions in the north.
