Story highlights
NEW: Hezbollah involvement suspected in rocket attack, Israeli military source says
No injuries immediately reported after rocket fire into Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
Weapons fire from Syria into area has happened in past year with civil war raging
At least two rockets fired from Syria landed in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday afternoon, prompting Israel to respond with artillery fire, the Israeli military said.
No injuries were immediately reported. After the rocket fire, officials evacuated Israeli-controlled areas around Mount Hermon, site of a ski resort, the military said.
The Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah is suspected to have been involved in the rocket attack, which “came from a Syrian air base in an area controlled by the Syrian army with a known Hezbollah presence,” an Israeli military source said on condition of anonymity.
Hezbollah supports the Syrian regime, which has been battling Sunni Islamist militants and other rebels in a civil war for more than three years.
Weapons fire from Syria into Israeli-controlled Golan Heights – both targeted and errant, the Israeli military contends – has happened intermittently in the past year as the Syrian civil war raged.
More than a week ago, Iranian semiofficial media reported that an Israeli airstrike killed six Hezbollah members and a senior Iranian commander in the Syrian controlled portion of Golan Heights around the Syrian town of Quneitra, the site of the only border crossing between Israel and Syria. Iran, like Hezbollah, supports the Syrian regime.
The Israeli military refused to comment about the January 18 strike.
Israel has occupied a portion of the territory since seizing it during its 1967 war with Egypt, Jordan and Syria.
CNN’s Elise Labott reported from Jerusalem, and CNN’s Jason Hanna wrote in Atlanta. CNN’s Hamdi Alkhshali contributed to this report.