Syria says Israeli airstrike kills 5

Syria media have said that five people were killed on Friday in an Israeli airstrike on a car in Syria.
A Syrian television station said all those killed in Quneitra on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, were civilians.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the dead included two paramilitaries loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike in the area in retaliation to rockets which Israel said were fired on Thursday by militants from Syria.

Israeli officials speaking with local media outlets said no fewer than four militants from the Islamic Jihad were killed in the strike.

On Thursday Israel accused the Iranian-backed group of firing rockets from Syria into northern Israel.

“The assassination of the cell that fired at Israel yesterday is an additional proof that we will not tolerate any attempt to disrupt our lives.
“We will not accept any activities that harm the security of Israeli citizens,” Israeli Defence Minister, Moshe Yaalon, said in a statement.

The Britain-based Observatory said that Israel has since carried out several airstrikes against Syrian military posts in Quneitra and near Damascus, destroying arms depots.

Since Syria’s civil conflict started in 2011, the border area with Israel has seen occasional violence.

In July, Syrian activists reported that an Israeli airstrike in Quneitra killed fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement battling alongside al-Assad’s troops.