Israel hits multiple targets in Syria after rockets fired into Golan Heights

An observation tower on the border between Israel and Syria

Israel hit multiple military targets in Syria in response to six rockets fired into territory it controls overnight, the Israeli military has said.

The Israeli Air Force said fighter jets and a drone hit the rocket launchers as well as a Syrian military compound, radar systems and artillery positions.

Syria said the strikes caused material damage.

The rocket fire from Syria into the occupied Golan Heights was claimed by a Palestinian militant group.

It caused no damage or casualties.

In recent days, Israel has also come under fire from southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, prompting it to carry out retaliatory strikes against Palestinian militants in both areas.

The exchanges have followed an escalation in regional tensions in recent days, after Israeli police raided Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Israeli military reported two separate rocket salvoes originating from Syria late on Saturday and early on Sunday.

Three rockets were launched in the first, one of which landed in the southern Golan Heights, it said.

In the second, two rockets crossed the frontier and one was intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defence system, the military added.

Beirut-based Al Mayadeen TV said the al-Quds Brigade - a Damascus-based Palestinian militant group loyal to the Syrian government - claimed it was behind the rocket fire, saying it was retaliating for recent Israeli police raids at the al-Aqsa mosque.

The group is different to the larger military wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has a very similar name - the Al-Quds Brigades.

• Violence as Israeli police raid Jerusalem holy site

The Israeli military said its artillery struck Syrian territory and that an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) struck the launchers that fired the rockets from Syria.

Israeli warplanes later struck additional targets belonging to the Syrian military, including a compound belonging to the Syrian army's 4th Division.

In a statement early on Sunday, Israeli Defence Forces said it "sees the state of Syria responsible for all activities occurring within its territory and will not allow any attempts to violate Israeli sovereignty".

A Syrian military source told the state-run Sana news agency that its air defences "intercepted the enemy's missiles and downed some of them" but that some material damage was caused.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, cited its sources as saying jets and drones hit targets including a Syrian military radar position in the western countryside of Suweida, the 90th Brigade near Quneitra, and the 52nd Brigade in the eastern countryside of Deraa.

It said no casualties had been reported.

Israel seized the Golan Heights, a 1,200-sq-km (460-sq-mile) area previously controlled by Syria, during the Six Day War in 1967 and annexed it in 1981, a move not recognised by most of the international community.

Stand-off at al-Aqsa mosque

Sunday morning saw a tense stand-off between Palestinians and police officers at the al-Aqsa mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.

The mosque, which is the third holiest site in Islam, is located on a hilltop complex known by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) and by Jews as the Temple Mount.

Jews revere it as the location of two Biblical Temples and it is the holiest site in Judaism.

Overnight, hundreds of Palestinian Muslim worshippers barricaded themselves in al-Aqsa mosque, raising fears of a further escalation in tensions with Israeli police.

Jordan - which manages the religious complex - has warned of catastrophic consequences if police storm the mosque.

But on Sunday morning, instead of forcing all Palestinians marking Ramadan to leave after dawn prayers, heavily armed police lined up to separate them from hundreds of Jewish visitors who were escorted around the site.

A mass blessing for Passover then took place at the Western Wall, which lies below the hilltop site.