DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — The Israeli army said two rockets were fired from Syria into open areas in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights on Tuesday, marking the first time a strike has been launched toward Israel from Syrian territory since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December.

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.

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“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.

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“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.”

ARCHIVE – Israeli tanks take up position next to a distribution center for humanitarian supplies delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-backed organization recognized by Israel, in Chan Junis in the southern Gaza Strip. Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP/dpa Keystone

The Israeli army is urgently warning the population of the Gaza Strip not to visit the controversial aid distribution centers, which are closed today for “renovation work”.

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The roads to these centers are considered combat zones, an army spokesman said on Platform X. Following repeated reports of fatal shootings of Palestinians at the centers in recent days, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is responsible for the distribution of aid, wants to improve security there.

The centers would remain closed for “renovation, organizational and efficiency improvement work”. Logistical preparations are also being made to cope with larger crowds. In addition, the Israeli army wants to use the time to prepare safe access routes, reported the Times of Israel. On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, the Israeli military fired at Palestinians who had approached the troops. They had deviated from a pre-approved route.

An Israeli army spokesman warned Gaza residents not to enter areas leading to the distribution centers today. “It is strictly forbidden to enter the areas of the distribution centers!” The centers are due to reopen on Thursday, the statement continued.

According to the health authority controlled by the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas on Tuesday, Israeli soldiers are said to have killed at least 27 Palestinians and injured around 90 others near a distribution center near Rafah. In contrast, the Israeli army stated that soldiers had seen suspects around half a kilometer from the distribution point who posed a threat. However, as they had not retreated despite warning shots, the soldiers had fired at individual suspects. None of the information can currently be independently verified.

Guterres calls for investigation

The GHF had only started distributing aid via the centers in the south of the cordoned-off coastal strip just over a week ago. So far, it claims to have distributed more than six million meals. According to Palestinian reports, similar deadly incidents have already occurred in the vicinity of these centers, in which dozens of Palestinians are said to have lost their lives.

Following the new reports of Palestinians killed at the aid centers, UN Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his call for consequences. “The Secretary-General continues to call for an immediate, independent investigation into these events and for the perpetrators to be held accountable,” said UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric in New York. “It is unacceptable that civilians are risking, and in several cases losing, their lives in an attempt to procure food.”

Israel allows the GHF to distribute aid in the Gaza Strip in order to bypass UN aid organizations and other initiatives. The UN has criticized this and accused Israel of using humanitarian aid as a weapon.

Israel’s government has had all aid deliveries to the sealed-off coastal area blocked since March. According to them, this was to increase pressure on Hamas to release the last hostages kidnapped during the terrorist attack in Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel only eased the blockade around two weeks ago. The war was triggered by the attack on Israel by Hamas and other Islamist terrorists on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli government justifies the controversial reorientation of humanitarian aid in Gaza by claiming that the supplies had previously been stolen by Hamas. However, according to UN organizations, there is no evidence of the systematic theft of humanitarian aid by Hamas.

The US government, meanwhile, defended the aid provided by the GHF to date – while at the same time maintaining its distance from it. It is an independent organization that does not receive any money from the US government, said US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce when asked in Washington.

Israeli Foreign Minister visits Berlin

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar is expected in Berlin today. Talks with his colleague Johann Wadephul (CDU) are planned for Thursday, according to the Foreign Office. According to a statement from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Saar will also visit the Holocaust memorial in Berlin.

Germany is considered a close ally of Israel. However, Israeli media speak of a “change in tone”, which they claim to have heard from the statements of Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and other public representatives of Germany. Merz had sharply criticized the Israeli government last week, but refrained from threatening concrete consequences.

Rockets from Syria hit the occupied Golan Heights

Meanwhile, rockets fired from Syria hit Israeli-controlled territory for the first time in more than a year. According to the Israeli army, the two missiles fell over open ground in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. There were initially no reports of casualties. According to the Israeli armed forces, they responded with artillery fire at the launch site and bombed a weapons depot in southern Syria.

It was the first rocket attack from Syria to hit Israel or Israeli-controlled territory since May 2024, wrote the Times of Israel newspaper. It was also the first attack of its kind from Syria since the fall of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.

The new Syrian leadership under interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa does not control large parts of the country. Until a year ago, pro-Iranian militias fired on Israel from Syria to support Hamas in the Gaza Strip in its war against Israel. At the time, these militias were acting with the approval of the Assad leadership.

Rocket fire also from Yemen

According to Israeli military sources, a missile from Yemen entered Israeli airspace at almost the same time on Tuesday evening. Israeli air defenses intercepted the missile fired by the Houthi militia in Yemen, according to the army. There were initially no reports of damage or casualties. Since the beginning of the Gaza war in October 2023, the pro-Iranian Huthi militia has regularly attacked Israel with missiles and drones – according to its own statements as an expression of solidarity with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Security sources reported a series of Israeli strikes targeting several sites in the Damascus countryside and Quneitra and Daraa. PHOTO: REUTERS

CAIRO – The Israeli military said it struck weapons belonging to the Syrian regime in southern Syria, in a second attack that Israel launched after reporting two projectiles were fired from Syria on June 3.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the two projectiles.

Syrian state news agency and security sources reported a series of Israeli strikes, the first major ones in nearly a month, targeting several sites in the Damascus countryside and Quneitra and Daraa.

The Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had said earlier that he held Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa responsible for the two projectile launches.

“We consider the president of Syria directly responsible for any threat and fire toward the State of Israel, and a full response will come soon,” Mr Katz said.

The Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement that reports of the launches towards Israel had not been verified yet and reiterated that Syria has not and will not pose a threat to any party in the region, the state news agency Sana reported.

“We believe that there are many parties that may seek to destabilise the region to achieve their own interests,” the Syrian foreign ministry added.

Syria and Israel have recently engaged in direct talks to ease tensions, a significant development in relations between states that have been on opposite sides of conflict in the Middle East for decades.

The Israeli military earlier said that two projectiles crossed from Syria towards Israel and fell in open areas.

Several Arab and Palestinian media outlets circulated a claim of responsibility from a little-known group named “Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades,” an apparent reference to Hamas’ military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024.

Reuters could not independently verify the statement.

Syrian state media earlier reported an Israeli strike in the southern Daraa province, an attack the Syrian foreign ministry later said resulted in “significant human and material losses.”

Local residents said Israeli mortars were striking the Wadi Yarmouk area, west of Daraa province, near the border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The area has witnessed increased tensions in recent weeks, including reported Israeli military incursions into nearby villages, where residents have reportedly been barred from sowing their crops.

Israel has waged a campaign of aerial bombardment that destroyed much of Syria’s military infrastructure.

It also has occupied the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and taken more territory in the aftermath of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in December, citing lingering concerns over the extremist past of the country’s new rulers.

Around the same time that Israel reported the projectiles from Syria, the Israeli military said it intercepted a missile from Yemen.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said they targeted Israel’s Jaffa with a ballistic missile.

The group says it has been launching attacks against Israel in support of Palestinians during the Israeli war in Gaza. REUTERS

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