Multiple rockets fired at Israel from Egypt's Sinai

Multiple rockets and shelling were fired into Israel from its southern border with the Sinai region, as well as its eastern border with Syria, the army said.
2 min read
09 February, 2017
Israel says some of the rockets were intercepted by it's Iron Dome system [Getty]

Multiple rockets were fired towards Israel from Egypt's Sinai peninsula late on Wednesday, the Israeli army said.

"Some of these rockets were destroyed in flight by Iron Dome batteries," a spokeswoman said, referring to Israel's anti-missile interception system.

An official at Eilat town hall - a resort town where the rockets landed - told Israeli public radio that three rockets had been intercepted and a fourth had exploded outside the town.

Meanwhile, a Syrian army position in the country's southern Quneitra province was struck by the Israeli army, in an alleged retaliation attack for a tank shell that landed on the Israeli side of the zone's demarcation line.

The shell was probably a stray round that came from the fighting in Syria and did not cause any casualties, Israeli military officials said.

The Israeli army responded by targeting a "government position" on the Syrian side of the Golan, they said.

No casualties were reported in both events.

Israel seized 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles) of the Golan Heights from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.

Around 510 sq. km. of the Golan are under Syrian control.

The two countries are still technically at war, though the border had remained largely quiet for decades until 2011, when the Syrian conflict broke out.

The Israeli side of the border is sporadically hit by what are usually deemed to be considered stray rounds, and Israel has recently taken to firing in retaliation.

Meanwhile on its southern border, the Sinai is the theatre of fierce fighting between Egyptian security forces and so-called 'Sinai Province', a branch of the Islamic State militant group.

The Sinai Province was set up in 2011 to allegedly attack Israel by firing rockets across the 240-kilometre (149-mile) border or sabotaging a gas pipeline that runs between Egypt and Israel.

But most of the fighting, by far, has been between the militant group and Egyptian government forces, while attacks on Israel have been relatively rare.