Israel’s military said Saturday that three rockets were fired from Syria into Israeli territory, a rare attack by the country’s northeastern neighbor that comes after days of escalating violence on multiple fronts.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket launches, which caused no damage or casualties. Only one rocket managed to cross Israeli territory and landed in a field in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, the Israeli military said. Fragments of another destroyed missile fell on Jordanian territory near the border with Syria, the Jordanian army said.
In Syria, an adviser to President Bashar Assad described the rocket attacks as “part of the previous, current and continued response to the brutal enemy.”
In the occupied West Bank, Israeli security forces fatally shot a 20-year-old Palestinian in the town of Azzun, Palestinian health officials said, sparking protests in the area. The Israeli military said troops fired at the Palestinians by throwing rocks and explosive devices. The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the slain Palestinian as Ayed Salim.
His death came at a time of unusually heightened violence in the West Bank. More than 90 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire so far this year, at least half of them affiliated with militant groups, according to a count by The Associated Press.
Palestinian attacks on Israelis have killed 19 people during that time, including two British-Israelis shot dead near a settlement in the Jordan Valley on Friday and an Italian tourist killed in a suspected car crash in Tel Aviv. All but one were civilians.
The rocket fire from Syria comes against the backdrop of rising Israeli-Palestinian tensions sparked by an Israeli police raid on Jerusalem’s most sensitive site, the holy compound of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. This outraged Palestinians marking the holy fasting month of Ramadan and prompted militants in Lebanon, as well as Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, to fire a heavy bombardment of rockets to Israel.
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In retaliation, Israeli warplanes struck sites allegedly linked to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and southern Lebanon.
Late on Saturday, tensions rose in Jerusalem as several hundred Palestinian worshipers barricaded themselves at the mosque, which sits atop a hill in the heart of Jerusalem’s Old City, holy to both Muslims and non-Muslims. jews Efforts by Israeli police to dislodge worshipers holed up in the mosque overnight with firecrackers and stockpiled stones sparked riots at the holy site earlier this week.
The latest escalation prompted Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to extend a closure preventing Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip from entering Israel during the Jewish holiday of Passover, as police beefed up forces in Jerusalem on the eve of religious sensibility. celebrations
In a separate incident in the northern West Bank city of Nablus late Saturday, a leader of an independent local armed group known as the Lion’s Den claimed the group executed an alleged Israeli collaborator who had informed the Israeli military of the locations and movements of members of the group. Israeli security forces have targeted and killed several of the group’s key members in recent months.
The defendant’s killing could not be immediately confirmed, but Palestinian media videos showed doctors and residents gathered around his bloodied body in the Old City, where the lion’s den rules.
“Traitors have neither a country nor a people,” Lion’s Den commander Oday Azizi said in a statement.
The moves come at a time of great religious fervor, with Ramadan coinciding with Easter and Passover celebrations. The Old City of Jerusalem, home to key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, has been bustling with religious visitors and pilgrims from around the world.
Gallant said a closure imposed last Wednesday, the eve of Easter, will remain in effect until the holiday ends Wednesday night. The order prevents Palestinians from entering Israel to work or to pray in Jerusalem this week, although mass prayers were allowed at the Al-Aqsa mosque on Friday. Gallant also ordered the Israeli military to be ready to assist the Israeli police. The army later announced that it was deploying additional troops around Jerusalem and the West Bank.
More than 2,000 police were expected to be deployed in Jerusalem on Sunday, when tens of thousands of Jews are expected to gather at the Western Wall for a special Easter priestly blessing. The Western Wall is the holiest place where Jews can pray and is adjacent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, where large crowds gather each day to pray during Ramadan.
Jerusalem Police Chief Doron Turgeman met with his commanders on Saturday for a security assessment. He accused the militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, of trying to incite violence ahead of Sunday’s priestly blessing with false claims that Jews were planning to storm the mosque.
“We will allow freedom of worship and we will allow Muslims to come and pray,” he said, adding that police would “act decisively and sensitively” to ensure all faiths can celebrate safely.
The current round of violence erupted earlier this week after Israeli police stormed the mosque, firing tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of Palestinians who had barricaded themselves inside. The violent scenes of the attack sparked unrest in the disputed capital and outrage across the Arab world.
Meanwhile, the Israeli-Palestinian violence also comes as thousands of Israelis gathered on Saturday as part of ongoing weekly demonstrations against the government’s controversial judicial review plans.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put your review on hold following mass protests against the plan, which has rallied large sections of Israeli society in opposition to a series of bills that seek to weaken the country’s Supreme Court.
The main protest in Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial hub, was held less than a mile from Friday’s deadly attack in Tel Aviv.
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