Iron Dome intercepts Syrian rockets in northern Israel

In a first, the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system was used in Israel’s north to intercept projectiles fired from Syria.

The Iron Dome anti-missile defense system intercepted two projectiles fired from Syria into the Israeli Golan Heights on Saturday.

No injures or damage were reported in the incidents.

Israel Radio reported that the IDF says that both projectiles would not have landed on the Israeli side of the border.

The two intercepted projectiles, rockets or large caliber mortars, were a spillover from the Syrian civil war being waged along Israel’s northern border.

This was the first time that the defense system was used in the north, after being very effective in defending Israel’s south against Hamas’ rocket fire, especially during Operation Protective Edge in summer of 2014.

The IDF has not responded to the incident. The IDF had previously responded to some of the incidents with artillery shelling or an air strike, in most cases against the source of the stray fire.

In recent weeks there has been a growing number of incidents of fire spilling over from the Syrian civil war into Israeli territory. There have been over 10 such incidents in the past two weeks.

Opposing factions in Syria’s civil war have been battling heavily in the area adjacent to Israel’s northern border, despite the fragile ceasefire that went into effect in the war-torn country last week.

By: Aryeh savir, World Israel News

Golan HeightsIron DomeStray fireSyriaSyrian Civil War