Mortar shells were fired into Israel from Syria, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said Tuesday, and a number of missiles landed in open areas on Israeli territory. Israeli forces fired back at the Syrian source with artillery and mortar fire.
The attack seemingly corroborates global concerns that Hamas’s war against Israel could advance into a larger regional dispute. Fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border broke out this weekend, when the Hezbollah terror group fired rockets into Israel, expanding the conflict up north.
Since their surprise invasion of Israel on the 50th anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Hamas terrorists have killed more than 1,000 Israeli civilians, wounded thousands, and captured hundreds of hostages. U.S. president Joe Biden announced on Tuesday that American citizens are among those taken hostage by terrorists and that Hamas has so far killed 14 Americans.
Hezbollah, an Iran-proxy terrorist group, said that it fired rockets into Golan Heights in support of the “Palestinian resistance” on Sunday, the same day the Wall Street Journal reported that Iran partnered with Hamas for the last year to plan the attack on Israel. After responding to Hezbollah’s attack by shelling two Hezbollah posts in Southern Lebanon, Israeli forces said that they were “prepared for all scenarios in all arenas, and will continue to operate in order to protect Israeli civilians.”
“Around 15 launches were detected from Lebanese territory, air-defense fighters successfully intercepted four launches, ten launches fell in Lebanese territory,” the IDF reported on Tuesday.
The United Arab Emirates warned Syrian president Bashar al-Assad not to intervene in the war, according to Axios reports, and leaders of France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States told regional forces not to get involved as well.
“Our countries will support Israel in its efforts to defend itself and its people against such atrocities,” the statement said. “We further emphasize that this is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage.”
Strikes from Syria came just hours after Biden addressed Americans. To any country looking to further attack Israel, Biden said he had one word: “Don’t.”