Red Alert Sirens sounded in Israel’s Golan Heights and northern Galilee just after 4:00PM on Wednesday afternoon after a stray artillery shell made its way across the border from Syria and landed in Israel. Based on residents in the area reporting that they heard an explosion, police believe the shell to have landed and detonated near the Gofra beach on the Kinneret.

According to reports from Arabic media outlets, the IDF shelled numerous positions inside Syrian with barrages of tank fire. The reports state that the positions attacked belonged to the Syrian military under the Assad regime and not to one of the rebel groups in the area.

The tank fire was expected the reports said, due to the errant artillery shell that landed near the Kinneret earlier on Wednesday afternoon.

According to the Kikar HaShabbat website, another battery of Patriot defense missiles was deployed near Haifa earlier today.

The errant shell came a day after a Syrian warplane infiltrated Israeli airspace and was shot down by patriot missiles.

The IDF Spokesperson’s Office issued a statement following the siren today as follows: “Following the reports with regards to the siren in the Golan Regional Council and surrounding area, a shell was identified as heading towards Israel. It appears that the shell was a mis-fired artillery round that was fired as a result of the internal conflict inside Syria.”

The Golan Regional Council Spokesperson’s office said: “Following the siren, no explosions were reported in the Golan heights and no ordinance was found. Residents can leave their protective shelters. The siren was sounded due to the internal fighting in Syria. We would  like to repeat that should a siren sound in the Golan, residents and visitors should act according to the instructions set down by the Homefront Command and enter into protective shelters for at least ten minutes.”

Israeli police initiated a wide-spread search for the fallen ordinance both on land and in the Kineret and stated that civilians near the Gofra Beach on the eastern shore of the Kineret, approximately one mile north of Kibbutz Ein Gev heard an explosion.

Two BM21 rockets were later found by Israeli security authorities in the northern freshwater lake after a three-hour search prompted by reports by eyewitness who claimed to see two suspicious objects crash into the water accompanied by explosions.

According to the defense establishment, the rockets were not intercepted due to the non-hermetic air defense system.

In response to the 2 rockets launched at Israel from Syria, IDF aircraft targeted the rocket launcher from which they were fired. The area surrounding it was targeted by artillery

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) July 25, 2018

Over the last few days, intense internal fighting has taken place in Syria adjacent to the border with Israel. The IDF will act against any attempt to compromise Israeli sovereignty and the safety of its civilians

— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) July 25, 2018