At least six terror operatives were killed in Israeli air strikes against Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets in Syria following rocket fire toward southern Israel by the terror group on Sunday. Among the targets hit was a compound which was “used as a hub of Islamic Jihad’s activity in Syria” as well as dozens of terror targets belonging to the group in the Strip. According to the IDF, the strike against the PIJ compound in the area of Al Adleyeh south of Damascus targeted a site where the group conducts research and development of weapons, both by adapting them to manufacturing in the Gaza Strip as well as for local manufacturing in Syria. At the site, the group also manufactured dozens of kilograms of AP, a modern fuel used in solid-propellant rockets, as well as operating a technical training camp for terror operatives from the Gaza Strip and from the North. The Syrian regime said Israeli warplanes had fired missiles from outside Syrian airspace towards targets around Damascus. “Once the missiles were discovered, they were [handled] with high efficiency, [made to be] deviating from their path. The majority were destroyed before reaching their targets,” a military source was quoted as saying by the official news agency SANA. Dozens of PIJ terrorist targets were also struck by IAF jets, including underground infrastructures and compounds in the area of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip that were used to store raw materials used to produce rockets. In Khan Yunis, Israel struck the headquarters of the group’s Khan Yunis Brigade which included a compound for training with anti-tank missiles as well as military equipment used by the group’s naval commando force. In Beit Lahia, a military training compound of the Islamic Jihad was also targeted. “The attacks were carried out in response to the attempted terror attack this morning on the perimeter fence and the launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory,” the military statement read. “The IDF will respond to any terror acts of the Islamic Jihad that endanger Israeli civilians and harm its sovereignty. The IDF views the rocket attack towards Israeli territory with great severity, is prepared and will continue operating as necessary against attempts to harm Israeli civilians.” Over 25 rockets were launched towards southern Israel in several barrages on Sunday evening. The IDF confirmed that it had struck a PIJ terror cell preparing to launch rockets from the northern part of the Strip. Palestinians reported that there were at least four injured in the strike. “At this time, the IDF is striking terror sites belonging to the PIJ terror group in the Gaza Strip,” the military said then, adding that it would provide more information about the targets in the future. Abu Hamza, the spokesman of Islamic Jihad’s military wing, warned that the group would respond to the strikes on Damascus which killed two of its operatives, 24-year-old Salim Salim and 23-year-old Ziad Mansour, vowing to avenge their deaths. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that another four pro-Iranian militia men were also killed in the strikes. “The Zionist aggression on Arab Damascus, and the martyrdom of two of our fighters in it, is an event that must reviewed and that will not pass fleetingly. The fight is not over,” he warned.
The group said that the Israeli air strikes on Damascus was “a reflection of the enemy’s failure to confront our fighters inside occupied Palestine.”
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