A senior Islamic Jihad leader on Friday rejected Israeli claims that the group fired rockets from Syria into Israel’s Galilee region, as Israel’s military targeted the Syrian Golan Heights in response.

During a conference held in front of the ICRC headquarters in Gaza on Friday in support of Muhammad Allan, Muhammad al-Hind said that Islamic Jihad “resists on Palestinian lands.”

Four rockets reportedly struck northern Israel, two in the Galilee and two in the occupied Golan Heights, on Thursday afternoon causing no damage or injuries.

The Israeli army said that the rockets were fired from Syria by the Islamic Jihad group and held the Syrian government responsible for the attacks.

The Israeli military responded to Thursday’s rocket attacks with artillery fire as well as airstrikes in Syria on Friday, killing at least five people.

An Israeli military source said the targets of the attack were “part of the Islamic Jihad in Syria, acting under the supervision of Iran.”

Al-Hind said that if claims of Islamic Jihad losses in Syria were proven true, “the movement knows how to defend its sons.”

Spokesperson of the Islamic Jihad movement, Daoud Shihab, added that Israel seeks to “shuffle cards” and create a reason for a new offensive.

Shihab threatened that the movement knows how, when, and where to respond to Israel.

Separately, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine official Saleh Zeidan told Ma’an that his movement condemns Israel’s actions and demanded that the international community intervene to stop the escalation and hold Israel accountable for its crimes.

Israel has carried out increasing strikes inside of Syrian territory in recent months, killing five pro-Syrian regime forces three weeks ago during strikes in the Druze village of Hader along the Syrian-Israeli ceasefire line. MAANNEWS