At least four Palestinian militants killed in heaviest Israeli bombardment since civil war began

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Israel has said it killed four Palestinian militants in an air strike on the Syrian Golan Heights, after rocket fire from Syria prompted the heaviest Israeli bombardment since the start of Syria’s four-year-old civil war.



An Israeli defence official said the four people killed in Friday’s air strike were Palestinian militants from the Iran-backed Islamic Jihad. “We know of at least four of them who were killed,” the official said.

A Syrian army source said the strike, at 10.30am local time, hit a car in a village, killing five civilians.

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State television quoted the source as saying the strike took place near Quneitra, close to the Israeli-occupied section of the Golan region.

Friday’s attack came after Israel launched heavy overnight strikes against Syrian army posts in the border area in retaliation for what Israel said were rockets fired from Syria into Israel by Islamic Jihad.

The rocket fire into Israel set off fires but caused no casualties. Islamic Jihad denied it was involved.

The overnight Israeli bombardment killed one Syrian soldier killed and wounded seven, the Syrian military source said.