Israel strikes Syrian military installation in Quneitra province
Israel has struck a Syrian military installation in Quneitra province, near the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, the Israeli army confirmed.
At least one Syrian military officer was killed and one was wounded in the Israeli attack late on Monday night, Reuters news agency reported, citing Syria's state-run news agency, SANA.
An Israeli army spokesperson told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the attack was in response to anti-aircraft fire from a day earlier.
"Syrian anti-aircraft systems fired at an IDF fighter jet during a routine flight in northern Israel," the Israeli military said in a statement, as reported by Reuters.
The army added that the plane was not hit but that the Syrian projectile landed in Israeli territory.
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In a statement on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli military "destroyed the launcher" that fired on the Israeli plane.
"Our policy is clear - we will not tolerate any aggression against us, and we will respond forcefully," Netanyahu said.
Quneitra is adjacent to the Syrian Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since 1967 and later illegally annexed. The area has a large Hezbollah presence, Reuters reported.
Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria, many of them deadly, against what it says are Iranian and Hezbollah targets.
With the support of US President Donald Trump's administration, Netanyahu has vowed repeatedly to take whatever military action he deems necessary to prevent Iran and Hezbollah from establishing a continuing military presence in Syria.
In late-March, Trump broke with decades of international consensus to recognise Israel's unilateral annexation of the Golan Heights.
Netanyahu has said Israel will ramp up its fight against Iranian-aligned forces in Syria following the withdrawal of US troops from the country.
Both Iran and Hezbollah have been fighting alongside the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the devastating eight-year war that has torn the country apart and killed more than 400,000 people.
Meanwhile, at least 18 civilians were killed on Monday as Syria's government intensified its bombardment of Idlib province, the last militant stronghold in the country's northwest, a monitor said.
Idlib and parts of the neighbouring provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia are under the control of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a militant group led by Syria's former al-Qaeda affiliate.
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