Israel said Saturday that it had used its "Iron Dome" missile defense system to destroy two rockets fired from Syria, marking what officials said was the first time the short-range system had been activated to intercept projectiles fired by combatants in Syria's civil war.
Israeli media quoted military officials as describing the rocket fire into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights as "unintentional spillover" from the war. There were no reports of casualties from the shoot-downs.
Israel has sought to avoid direct involvement in the Syrian conflict, but it launched airstrikes on cross-border military targets as recently as Tuesday, after warheads fell in the Israeli-occupied zone. Shortly after those strikes, the Israeli military denied Syrian claims that one Israeli fighter and a drone had been shot down.
There has been no public comment from Syria on the latest incidents.
The military deployed the portable Iron Dome missile batteries early last year to protect its northern flank from rocket and artillery fire from the Golan Heights, a strategic Syrian plateau seized by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967.
