April 3, 2013

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said the country’s military will not ignore rocket fire on Israeli citizens after rockets were fired on Israel from both Syria and Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces responded Tuesday night to the rocket fire on both borders.

The Israeli Air Force on Tuesday night bombed what the IDF Spokesperson’s office called “two extensive terror sites” in the northern Gaza Strip. “Accurate hits were identified,” the spokesperson said. The attacks followed the firing of three mortar shells at southern Israel on Tuesday.

Two more rockets fired from Gaza on Wednesday morning landed near Sderot. The rockets fell as children were making their way to school, on the first school day since the Passover holiday break began some two weeks ago.

On Tuesday night, IDF troops shot at targets in Syria after two incidents in which shots fired from Syria targeted Israeli border patrols. “IDF forces returned precise fire at the source and reported a direct hit,” according to the IDF Spokesperson’s office.

The IDF filed an official protest with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force.

The cross-border fire with Syria came just hours after Yaalon toured the northern border for the first time as defense minister. 

“Israel has no intention of ignoring fire from Syria toward Israeli territory, incidental or not, and will respond with a firm hand,” Yaalon said Wednesday morning. “As soon as we identify the source of the fire, we will take it down without hesitation, as we did last night and in previous cases. As far as we are concerned, the Syrian regime is to be held responsible for everything happening in its territory. Israel will not allow a situation in which firing spills over to Israeli territory without a response.”
 

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