Israeli army: 3 rockets fired from Syria towards Israel

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli army mentioned Saturday that three rockets had been launched from Syria towards Israeli territory, a uncommon assault from the nation’s northeastern neighbor that comes after days of escalating violence on a number of fronts.

There was no quick declare of duty for the rocket launches, which precipitated no injury or casualties. Only one rocket managed to cross into Israeli territory and landed in a discipline within the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, the Israeli army mentioned. Fragments of one other destroyed missile fell into Jordanian territory close to the Syrian border, Jordan’s army reported.

In Syria, an adviser to President Bashar Assad described the rocket strikes as “part of the previous, present and continuing response to the brutal enemy.”

In the occupied West Bank, Israeli safety forces fatally shot a 20-year-old Palestinian within the city of Azzun, Palestinian well being officers mentioned, stirring protests within the space. The Israeli army mentioned troops fired at Palestinians hurling stones and explosive units. The Palestinian Health Ministry recognized the Palestinian killed as Ayed Salim.

His loss of life got here at a time of unusually heightened violence within the West Bank. Over 90 Palestinians and have been killed by Israeli fireplace thus far this 12 months, at the very least half of them affiliated with militant teams, in accordance with a tally by The Associated Press.

Palestinian assaults on Israelis have killed 19 folks in that point – together with on Friday two British-Israelis shot to loss of life close to a settlement within the Jordan Valley and an Italian vacationer killed by a suspected car-ramming in Tel Aviv. All however one had been civilians.

The rocket fireplace from Syria comes towards the backdrop of hovering Israeli-Palestinian tensions touched off by an Israeli police raid on Jerusalem’s most delicate web site, the sacred compound house to the Al-Aqsa mosque. That outraged Palestinians marking the holy fasting month of Ramadan and prompted militants in Lebanon – in addition to Palestinian militants within the Gaza Strip – to fireside a heavy barrage of rockets into Israel.

In retaliation, Israeli warplanes struck websites allegedly linked to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza and southern Lebanon.

Late Saturday, tensions ran excessive in Jerusalem as just a few hundred Palestinian worshippers barricaded themselves within the mosque, which sits on a hilltop within the coronary heart of Jerusalem’s Old City sacred to each Muslims and Jews. Israeli police efforts to evict the worshippers locked within the mosque in a single day with stockpiled firecrackers and stones spiraled into unrest within the holy web site earlier this week.

The newest escalations prompted Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to increase a closure barring entrance to Israel for Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip at some stage in the Jewish vacation of Passover, whereas police beefed up forces in Jerusalem on the eve of delicate non secular celebrations.

In a separate incident within the northern West Bank metropolis of Nablus late Saturday, a frontrunner of an area unbiased armed group generally known as the Lion’s Den claimed the group executed an alleged Israeli collaborator who had tipped off the Israeli army to the places and actions of the group’s members. Israeli safety forces have focused and killed a number of of the group’s key members in latest months.

The accused man’s killing couldn’t be instantly confirmed, however movies in Palestinian media confirmed medics and residents gathered round his bloodied physique within the Old City, the place the Lion’s Den holds sway. “Traitors have neither a country nor a people,” Lion’s Den commander Oday Azizi mentioned in a press release.

The strikes come at a time of heightened non secular fervor – with Ramadan coinciding with Passover and Easter celebrations. Jerusalem’s Old City, house to key Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy websites, has been teeming with guests and spiritual pilgrims from around the globe.

Gallant mentioned {that a} closure imposed final Wednesday, on the eve of Passover, would stay in impact till the vacation ends on Wednesday evening. The order prevents Palestinians from coming into Israel for work or to hope in Jerusalem this week, although mass prayers had been permitted on the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday. Gallant additionally ordered the Israeli army to be ready to help Israeli police. The military later introduced that it was deploying further troops round Jerusalem and within the West Bank.

Over 2,000 police had been anticipated to be deployed in Jerusalem on Sunday – when tens of hundreds of Jews are anticipated to assemble on the Western Wall for the particular Passover priestly blessing. The Western Wall is the holiest web site the place Jews can pray and sits subsequent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the place giant crowds collect every day for prayers throughout Ramadan.

Jerusalem police chief Doron Turgeman met together with his commanders on Saturday for a safety evaluation. He accused the Hamas militant group, which guidelines the Gaza Strip, of making an attempt to incite violence forward of Sunday’s priestly blessing with false claims that Jews deliberate to storm the mosque.

“We will allow the freedom of worship and we will allow the arrival of Muslims to pray,” he mentioned, including that police “will act with determination and sensitivity” to make sure that all faiths can have fun safely.