Israel strikes Syria regime forces after Golan mortar fire

The Israeli air force hit Syrian regime forces after mortar fire from its war-wracked neighbour struck the Israeli-occupied zone of the Golan Heights on Sunday.

"The Israeli military says it has fired at Syrian army cannons in the Syrian Golan Heights in response to mortar fire from Syria that hit the Israeli-held Golan Heights," the Israeli military said in an online statement.

"Initial reports indicate that mortar fire from Syria hit an open area in the Israeli Golan Heights. No injuries reported," it said earlier.

Unlike a similar incident on August 22, the Israelis did not immediately characterise the incident as stray fire.

"The Syrian government must be held accountable for this breach of Israeli sovereignty," military spokesman Peter Lerner wrote on his official Twitter account.

"The IDF will continue to act to safeguard Israel."

In the August 22 exchange, the Israeli air force hit what it said was a Syrian army rocket launcher in response to "stray fire from Syrian conflict".

There were similar events in July and previously.

Israel has sought to avoid being drawn into Syria's complex war which is now in its sixth year, but it has attacked Syrian military targets when fire from the conflict spills over.

Israel is also believed to have carried out air raids on arms shipments believed to be headed toward the Lebanese militant group Hizballah, a close ally of the Syrian regime.

Israel seized 1,200 square kilometres 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.