Rockets from Syria Hit Golan Heights as Israel's 'Quiet Border' Grows Restless

Syria's civil war continues to encroach on Israel's doorstep, as officials from the Israel Defense Forces announced that two rockets from Syria landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday.

The rockets fell on open ground, and no casualties were reported. The Israeli military promptly replied with artillery fire and evacuated a popular ski resort area around Mt. Hermon.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group monitoring opposition to embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, said that Israeli forces had "bombarded regime bastions" in the region and referred to two accompanying explosions. The IDF said the counterstrike successfully hit the source of the rockets.

Late Tuesday night, Israel launched airstrikes on Syrian army artillery targets near the border.

"The IDF views the Syrian regime as responsible for what occurs in its territory, and will act at any time and any way it sees fit to protect the citizens of Israel," an IDF spokesperson said, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Confirmed: At least 2 rockets fired from Syria hit northern Israel. The IDF responded with artillery fire & evacuated the area of Mt. Hermon

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson)January 27, 2015

Israel occupied the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War of 1967 war and later annexed it from Syria. The war in Syria is now entering its fifth year.

The incident is not the first time targeted or errant mortar shells from the raging conflict have reached the Golan Heights. Last November, VICE News traveled to the region to report on the Syrian war spilling across what was once known as Israel's most quiet "border."

Israel has responded with fire on several occasions. But tensions along the border have been especially high in the past week, after a high-ranking Iranian general supporting the Assad regime was killed alongside five Hezbollah fighters in an Israeli airstrike in Syria.

That strike also killed the son of Hezbollah's late military commander, Imad Mughniyeh, raising fears of retaliation. Israel has tightened security alongside its northern border with Lebanon and in the Golan Heights, and is prepared for possible attacks.

Iranian general killed in Israeli airstrike inside Syria. Read more here.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said the fire "appeared to be intentional," but declined to comment on whether it might have been connected to the strike last week.

Officially, Israel has remained neutral over the conflict in Syria, though it has carried out a number of secret operations against Hezbollah targets inside the country. The Lebanese Islamist group has been fighting alongside Assad's forces against Syrian rebels and, increasingly, Jabhat al-Nusra, al Qaeda's official affiliate in Syria.

Follow Alice Speri on Twitter: @alicesperi