Red Alert sirens were blasted throughout northern Israel on Monday morning as the Israeli military intercepted rockets near the Syrian borders.
Israel’s military spokesman said in a statement that the red alert sirens were triggered by rockets from Syria – insisting they were not part of an attack on Israel.
The sirens were first heard by residents in the Galilee region in Israel at around 10:05 (local time) according to Israeli media reports.
Three minutes later sirens were heard in communities on the Golan Heights region located near the Lebanese and Syrian borders.
Israel then launched two David’s Sling missiles to intercept the rockets according to the military.
Video footage from security analyst Michael Horowitz shows an anti-aircraft defense system being launched and a trail of smoke left in the sky.
No injuries or damage reported.
Syrian news agency SANA reported on Sunday evening that an Israeli air strike had hit Syria’s Hama province.
According to Haaretz Israel made its first operational use of the David’s Sling missile defense system Monday morning when it identified the launch of two Syrian surface-to-surface missiles.
Earlier Monday residents in northern Israel reported hearing anti-aircraft batteries being activated saying a trail of smoke was seen in the sky shortly after sirens were set off across northern Israel in the city of Safed and in areas near Mt. Hermon. Later more sirens sounded in the Golan Heights city of Katzrin and in a nearby regional council.
A David’s Sling interceptor missile costs between 700000 shekels ($192000) to 1 million shekels. The military insists that when launching defense missiles it does not take into consideration the financial costs involved Haaretz added.
