Israel, Iran engage in most serious confrontation in Syria

Israeli forces unleashed a heavy bombardment against Iranian military installations in Syria on Thursday in what Israel called retaliation for an Iranian rocket barrage on its positions in the occupied Golan Heights, the most serious military confrontation between the two bitter enemies to date.

The two rivals have long fought each other through proxies, and with the new exchange each seemed to be sending a warning that a direct clash between them could swiftly escalate.

In this photo released Thursday, May 10, 2018, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks during an interview with the Greek Kathimerini newspaper, in Damascus, Syria. In the interview published Thursday, Assad said the current U.S. administration is inconsistent and nothing can be achieved with it in terms of ending the raging conflict in his country and that he hoped there is no direct confrontation between the U.S and Russia in Syria. (SANA via AP)

"If we get rain, they'll get a flood," Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned.

The scope of the attacks — which Israel called its largest in Syria since the 1973 Mideast war — raised the specter of a full-fledged war between Iran and Israel in Syria, a conflict that could potentially drag the militant Hezbollah and Lebanon into the mix with devastating effects, although both sides appeared to signal they wanted the confrontation to remain contained, at least for now.

Israel, however, has been emboldened by President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal earlier this week, and the latest escalation seemed to signal a potentially coordinated surge in military activity targeting Iran.

The Israeli military said Thursday it hit nearly all of Iran's military installations in Syria in response to the overnight Iranian rocket barrage that targeted Israeli front-line military positions in the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. It was the first time Israel has directly accused Iran of firing toward Israeli territory.

Iranian media described the Israeli attack as "unprecedented," but there was no official Iranian comment on Israel's claims.

Iran has vowed to retaliate for repeated Israeli airstrikes targeting its forces in Syria. But it seemed to carefully calibrate its response by targeting the Golan Heights, which Israel annexed in 1981 in a move that is not internationally recognized, instead of striking Israel proper.

In this photo released Thursday, May 10, 2018, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks during an interview with Alexis Papachelas, the the executive editor of the Greek Kathimerini newspaper, in Damascus, Syria. (SANA via AP)

This photo provided early Thursday, May 10, 2018, by the government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media, shows missiles rise into the sky as Israeli missiles hit air defense position and other military bases, in Damascus, Syria.  (Syrian Central Military Media, via AP)

Tehran is wary of a wider military conflagration with Israel that could jeopardize its military achievements in Syria at a time when it is trying to salvage the international nuclear deal and may be limited in its ability to strike back.

The recent clashes reveal the difficulty both sides face in dealing with an unprecedented situation, said Jean-Pierre Filiu, a professor of Middle East studies at Sciences Po, Paris School of International Affairs.

The clashes will eventually likely lead not to further escalation, but to the "consolidation of new 'red lines' tacitly endorsed by Israel and Iran," he said in an analysis written for the Carnegie Middle East Center.

The extent of the damage inflicted by the Israeli airstrikes was not immediately clear.

Israel said among the targets were weapons storage, logistics sites and intelligence centers used by elite Iranian forces in Syria. It also said it destroyed several Syrian air-defense systems after coming under heavy fire and that none of its warplanes were hit.

This photo provided early Thursday, May 10, 2018, by the government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media, shows missiles rise into the sky as Israeli missiles hit air defense position and other military bases, in Damascus, Syria.  (Syrian Central Military Media, via AP)

This photo provided early Thursday, May 10, 2018, by the government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media, shows missiles rise into the sky as Israeli missiles hit air defense position and other military bases, in Damascus, Syria. (Syrian Central Military Media, via AP)

The Syrian military acknowledged that the strikes destroyed a radar station and an ammunition warehouse, and damaged a number of air defense units. It said three people were killed and two were wounded.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which closely monitors the civil war through sources inside Syria, said 23 fighters, including five Syrian soldiers, were killed. It was not immediately clear if any Iranians were among the dead.

The White House swiftly condemned Iran's "provocative rocket attacks from Syria against Israeli citizens" and expressed strong support for "Israel's right to act in self-defense," while Russia said the Israeli strikes marked a dangerous escalation and urged both Israel and Iran to avoid provoking each other.

In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said "the Iranian regime's deployment into Syria of offensive rocket and missile systems aimed at Israel is an unacceptable and highly dangerous development for the entire Middle East."

Israel has carried out over 100 airstrikes in neighboring Syria since the civil war erupted in 2011, most believed to be aimed at suspected Iranian weapons shipments bound for the Hezbollah militant group.

In this photo released Thursday, May 10, 2018, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad speaks during an interview with the Greek Kathimerini newspaper, in Damascus, Syria. In the interview published Thursday, Assad said the current U.S. administration is inconsistent and nothing can be achieved with it in terms of ending the raging conflict in his country and that he hoped there is no direct confrontation between the U.S and Russia in Syria. (SANA via AP)

This photo provided early Thursday, May 10, 2018, by the government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media, shows missiles rise into the sky as Israeli missiles hit air defense position and other military bases, in Damascus, Syria. The Israeli military on Thursday said it attacked "dozens" of Iranian targets in neighboring Syria in response to an Iranian rocket barrage on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights, in the most serious military confrontation between the two bitter enemies to date. (Syrian Central Military Media, via AP)

But in the past few weeks, Israel has shifted to a more direct and public confrontation with Iran, striking at Iranian bases, weapons depots and rocket launchers across Syria, and killing Iranian troops. Israel accuses Tehran of seeking to establish a foothold on its doorstep, something it has vowed never to allow.

Reflecting the scope of the pre-dawn attack, Russia's military said 28 Israeli jets were involved, striking Iranian and government sites in Syria with 70 missiles. It said half the missiles were shot down.

Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, an annual security gathering north of Tel Aviv, Lieberman said Israel would respond fiercely to any further Iranian actions.

"We will not let Iran turn Syria into a forward base against Israel," the Israeli defense minister said. "If we get rain, they'll get a flood. I hope that we ended this chapter and that everyone understood."

In a statement issued as Israel's security cabinet met, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strike sent a "clear message" that "whoever attacks us — we will attack them sevenfold and whoever prepares to attack us — we will act against them first."

Iranian state television announced the Israeli strikes, sourcing the information to Syria's state-run SANA news agency, and described the Israeli attack as "unprecedented."

Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 war and annexed it in 1981. In 1974, Israel and Syria reached a cease-fire and a disengagement deal that froze the conflict lines with the plateau in Israeli hands.

Damascus shook with sounds of explosions just before dawn, and firing by Syrian air defenses over the city was heard for more than five hours.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow sees Thursday's strikes as a "very alarming development."

He noted that in contacts with the leadership of both countries, including a meeting Wednesday between Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, "we underlined the necessity of avoiding any actions that might be mutually provocative."

Russia sent forces to Syria to back President Bashar Assad in 2015. But Israel and Russia have maintained close communications to prevent their air forces from coming into conflict. The pan-Arab Al Hayat newspaper reported Thursday that Russia and Israel were developing an agreement to keep Iran out of southern Syria and allow Syrian government forces to retake the region.

Israel said early Thursday that Iran's Quds Force fired 20 rockets at Israeli front-line military positions in the Golan Heights. Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said four of the rockets were intercepted, while the others fell short of their targets. The incoming attack set off air raid sirens in the Golan.

Conricus said Israel was not looking to escalate the situation but that troops will continue to be on "very high alert."

"Should there be another Iranian attack, we will be prepared for it," he said.

The two sides have been on a collision course for months.

In February, Israel shot down what it said was an armed Iranian drone that entered Israeli airspace. Israel responded by attacking anti-aircraft positions in Syria, and an Israeli warplane was shot down during the battle.

Earlier this week, Syrian state media said Israel struck a military outpost near Damascus. The Observatory said the missiles targeted depots and rocket launchers that likely belonged to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard, killing at least 15 people, including eight Iranians.

Last month, an attack on Syria's T4 air base in the central Homs province killed seven Iranian military personnel.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cast the U.S. announcement that the fragile ceasefire in Gaza would advance to its second phase as largely symbolic, raising questions about how its more challenging elements will be carried out.

Speaking late Wednesday with the parents of the last Israeli hostage whose remains are still in Gaza, Netanyahu said the governing committee of Palestinians announced as part of the second phase was merely a “declarative move,” rather than the sign of progress described by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.

Israeli police officer Ran Gvili's parents had earlier pressed Netanyahu not to advance the ceasefire until their son's remains were returned, which Israel’s Hostage and Missing Families Forum said Wednesday.

Netanyahu told Gvili’s parents that his return remained a top priority.

The announcement of the ceasefire's second phase marked a significant step forward but left many questions unanswered.

Those include the makeup of a proposed, apolitical governing committee of Palestinian experts and an international “Board of Peace."

The committee's composition was coordinated with Israel, said an Israeli official speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Questions also include the timing of deployment of international forces and the reopening of Gaza’s southern Rafah border crossing, as well as concrete details about disarming Hamas and rebuilding Gaza.

In an interview on Wednesday with the West Bank-based Radio Basma, Ali Shaath, the engineer and former Palestinian Authority official slated to head the committee, said he anticipated reconstruction and recovery to take roughly three years. He said it would start with immediate needs like shelter.

“If I bring bulldozers, and push the rubble into the sea, and make new islands (in the sea), new land, it is a win for Gaza and (we) get rid of the rubble," Shaath, a Gaza native, said.

Palestinians in Gaza who spoke to The Associated Press questioned what moving into phase two would actually change on the ground, pointing to ongoing bloodshed and challenges securing basic necessities.

More than 450 people have been killed since Israel and Hamas agreed to halt fighting in October, Gaza's Health Ministry said on Thursday.

Those casualties, which UNICEF said include more than 100 children, are among the 71,441 Palestinians killed since the start of Israel's offensive, according to the ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.

“We see on the ground that the war has not stopped, the bloodshed has not stopped, and our suffering in the tents has not ended. Every day there is suffering in the tents, in the rain and the sun, from sun to rain to death,” said Samed Abu Rawagh, a man displaced to southern Gaza from Jabaliya.

Hamza Abu Shahab, a man from eastern Khan Younis in southern Gaza, said he was waiting for tangible changes, such as easier access to food, fuel and medical care, rather than promises.

“We were happy with this news, but we ask God that it is not just empty words,” he told the AP in Khan Younis. “We need this news to be real, because in the second phase we will be able to return to our homes and our areas … God willing, it won’t just be empty promises."

Gaza’s population of more than 2 million people has struggled to keep cold weather and storms at bay while facing shortages of humanitarian aid and a lack of more substantial temporary housing, which is badly needed during the winter months.

This is the third winter since the war between Israel and Hamas started on Oct. 7, 2023, when militants stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people and abducted 251 others.

The second phase of the ceasefire will confront thornier issues than the first, including disarming Hamas and transitioning to a new governance structure after nearly two decades of the group's rule in the strip

The United Nations has estimated reconstruction will cost over $50 billion. This process is expected to take years and little money has been pledged so far.

Hamas has said it will dissolve its existing government to make way for the committee announced as part of the ceasefire's second phase. But it has not made clear what will happen to its military arm or the scores of Hamas-affiliated civil servants and the civilian police.

Bassem Naim, a member of the group's political bureau, said Thursday that Hamas welcomed the announcement of the committee as a step toward establishing an independent Palestinian state, but did not elaborate on the issues in question. He said on X that “the ball is now in the court” of the United States and international mediators to allow it to operate.

Israel has insisted Hamas must lay down its weapons, while the groups’ leaders have rejected calls to surrender despite two years of war, saying Palestinians have “the right to resist.”

Metz reported from Jerusalem. Josef Federman contributed reporting from Jerusalem.

A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)