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JERUSALEM – Israel carried out strikes in Syria early Sunday, targeting a military compound and radar and artillery posts after six rockets were fired from the country towards Israel, as unrest broke out after Israeli police raids on the compound of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem last week in danger of escalating into a regional conflagration.
According to state media, explosions could be heard coming from Damascus, the Syrian capital, and the Syrian Defense Ministry reported that multiple munitions were fired from the Israeli-held Golan Heights toward southern Syria. The ministry said it had recorded some material casualties but no casualties had been reported.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they would act to protect the country’s sovereignty after three of the six missiles entered Israeli territory. Without taking responsibility, an aide to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad described the earlier rocket attacks as “part of the past, present and ongoing response to the brutal enemy,” the Associated Press reported.
Israel said it blamed Syria for everything that happened on its territory, and the IDF also used drone and artillery strikes in retaliation.
Saturday night as the crossfire continued, Palestinian worshipers gathered at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a site that Muslims consider one of Islam’s holiest, located on the Holy Esplanade in occupied East Jerusalem.
Police raided the mosque and surrounding grounds on consecutive nights last week, arresting hundreds of people and injuring at least 40 as they used beatings, steel-tipped rubber bullets and stun grenades to clear the compound.
The violence triggered a day-long crisis that has not yet stopped simmering. Police said hundreds of people had locked themselves inside the mosque and were preparing for a riot. Believers and some human rights monitors saw this claim as an excuse to enter the building at a politically charged time.
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Israeli diplomats have asked Jordan, which oversees the site, to vacate the mosque of some worshipers again this weekend, arguing they were egged on by the militant Hamas group. Amman has refused, warning of catastrophic consequences if Israeli troops storm the mosque again.
The Sacred Esplanade is a powerful symbol of religious and political identity for both Israelis and Palestinians.
It is known to Jews as the Temple Mount, where the First and Second Temples of the Faith once stood; for Muslims it is the noble sanctuary where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. Informal rules governing who may pray where — Muslims on the Esplanade, Jews at the Western Wall — have recently been overturned by an increase in Jewish prayers on the Esplanade and threats by Messianic Jewish activists to bring animal sacrifices there during Passover tested.
Thousands of Jews gathered to bless Passover at the Wailing Wall throughout Sunday morning, but photographs of al-Aqsa indicated that Israeli police had also escorted Jewish worshipers to the compound.
Against a tense regional backdrop, Ismail Qaani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force, arrived in Damascus, Iranian state media reported on Sunday.
The Israeli government faces crises on multiple fronts as far-right officials denounced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response to last week’s cross-border strikes and twin attacks on civilians, and anti-government rallies denounced the government’s political agenda for the 14th straight week.
The Israeli military also launched airstrikes on alleged Hamas-affiliated targets in Gaza and southern Lebanon last week after rockets were fired into Israeli airspace from both areas, injuring a civilian and damaging buildings.
Ables reported from Seoul. Suzan Haidamous in Washington contributed to this report.