UPDATE - Israel Defense Forces Say They Struck Islamic Jihad Targets In Syria

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th February, 2020) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have attacked Islamic Jihad militant group targets in Syria, as well as the Gaza Strip, IDF said in a statement.

"We just struck Islamic Jihad terror targets in both Syria & Gaza in response to rockets fired at Israeli civilians today," IDF said on Twitter in the early hours of Monday.

Earlier, the Syrian state-run Sana news agency reported that Syrian air defense was repelling attacks in the air over Damascus.

The Israeli I24 tv reported that an Islamic Jihad commander was killed in the IDF strike in Syria. However, the militant group issued a statement refuting all claims of one of its high-ranking leaders having been killed in Syria.

IDF said on Sunday that it had targeted Palestinian Islamic Jihad members who were preparing to launch rockets from the Gaza Strip. According to IDF, Palestinian militants fired 21 rockets into southern Israel on Sunday; 13 of them were intercepted.

"Four Palestinians were wounded because of Israeli rocket attacks on Gaza," a representative of the Palestinian Health Ministry told Sputnik.

On Sunday morning, Israeli servicemen attacked a group of Palestinians, who were trying to plant a bomb at the border fence separating Israel and the enclave. The military said that this group had already tried to place explosives at the border with Israel in the past.