IDF says it responds to missile shot at Hermon from Syria

IDF fighter jets struck Iranian and Assad military targets, air defense batteries and Quds Forces positions throughout Syria in the predawn hours of Monday, in response to the firing of a surface-to-surface missile fired by Iranian forces a day earlier toward Golan Heights.

According to IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis, the airstrikes were carried out in three waves and targeted military targets belonging to Iran's Quds Force in Syria, including weapons storage sites, a site at Damascus International Airport, an Iranian intelligence site and an Iranian training camp.

In addition, several Assad air defense batteries were struck after dozens of anti-aircraft missiles were fired toward the Israeli jets. 

“During the attack, dozens of Syrian surface-to-air missiles were fired, despite the clear warnings expressed to refrain from attacking," the IDF said in a statement. "As a result, a number of Assad air defense batteries were also attacked."

Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Russia’s defense control center as saying that Syria’s air defenses destroyed more than 30 cruise missiles and guided bombs fired by Israel and that four Assad militiamen were killed in the strikes.

Israel’s military said the large-scale strikes came as a response to Iranian forces in Syria of firing a missile with the intention of hitting the northern Golan on Sunday. The missile was intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system. 

Manelis told reporters that the missile was fired from around the capital of Damascus in an area which Israel had been assured “by the relevant parties” that Iranian militias would not be found.