2 stray projectiles from Syria land in Golan Heights

A pair of projectiles landed in an open area of the Golan Heights on Saturday as a result of spillover fire from the fighting in Syria, the Israel Defense Forces said.

As a result of the projectiles, missile warning sirens were heard in a number of local communities.

The army said soldiers were searching the area for debris.

There were no reports of injuries or property damage.

On Thursday, a projectile struck an open field on the Golan Heights in an apparent case of spillover fire from the fighting in Syria, the Israel Defense Forces said.

In response to the shelling, Israeli tanks stationed near the border fired back at the Syrian military position in Quneitra on Thursday evening. The IDF said the mortar position it attacked was the same one that fired the shell earlier in the day.

“The IDF holds the Syrian regime responsible for any aggression from within its territory, and will not tolerate any attacks threatening the Israeli sovereignty and the safety of its civilians,” the army said.

No siren was sounded as the warning system detected the projectile would land in an uninhabited area.

There has been an apparent uptick in the fighting on the Syrian side of the border, between rebel militias and dictator Bashar Assad’s army.

Thursday’s flareup came after Israeli jets bombed an anti-aircraft battery near Damascus earlier in the week which had fired on an Israeli plane.

On Wednesday afternoon, rocket sirens rang out in IDF bases in the Golan Heights, set off by internal fighting across the border.

Speaking shortly after the sirens, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Israel had “all the tools needed to deal” with the challenge of Iran in Syria, one of the strongest backers of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“The Iranians are trying to take control of Syria to become the dominant power there,” he said.

Also Wednesday, Iran’s military chief of staff warned that Tehran would not tolerate violations of Syrian sovereignty by Israel and vowed that the two countries would jointly fight against Syria’s enemies.

Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.