Israel strikes 'launch sites' in Syria after mortar fire

Beirut/Istanbul (dpa) - Israel‘s military targeted "launch sites in southern Syria on Friday after mortar shells fell inside the Golan Heights, the Israeli army said."In response to the projectiles fired from Syria that hit the northern Golan Heights earlier this evening, the IDF targeted the launch sites," the military said on its Twitter feed, referring to itself by its initials.Sources in Syria told dpa that an Israeli jet hit two Syrian army posts in the Queintra region. A tank was destroyed, the sources said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was a drone strike.The Syrian state-run SANA news agency confirmed Israel fired two missiles. The agency quoted a military source as accusing Israel of supporting "terrorists," a term the government uses to describe rebels in the long-running civil war.The Israeli Ynet news site quoted officials as saying the government holds President Bashar al-Assad responsible for any rocket fire.The incidents come on the day US Secretary of Defence James Mattis is visiting Israel and meeting top governments officials.Israel occupied parts of the Golan Heights in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.