In Syria in response to rocket fire

Israel says it has struck almost all of Iran's military infrastructure inside Syria in its biggest assault since the start of the civil war there.

The strikes came after 20 rockets were fired at Israeli military positions in the occupied Golan Heights overnight.

Syria's military said the Israeli "aggression" had killed three people.

There was no immediate comment from Iran, whose deployment of troops to Syria to help President Bashar al-Assad has alarmed Israel.

Iran has repeatedly called for an end to the existence of the Jewish state.

Russia, Germany and France called on both countries to exercise restraint, but the US said Iran bore "full responsibility for the consequences of its reckless actions" and that Israel had a right to defend itself.

What happened in the Golan?

The Golan Heights is a rocky plateau in south-western Syria, about 50km (30 miles) from the capital Damascus. Israel occupied most of the area in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it in a move not recognised internationally.The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that early on Thursday morning 20 rockets had been launched at its forward posts there by the Quds Force, the overseas operations arm of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.

IDF spokesman Lt Col Jonathan Conricus said four rockets were intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome aerial defence system, while 16 others fell short of their targets. No injuries or damage were reported.

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, confirmed that rockets were fired towards the occupied Golan. But it said the attack came after Israeli forces bombarded Baath, a town in the demilitarised zone.

How did Israel respond to the rocket fire?

Col Conricus said fighter jets had struck 70 military targets belonging to Iran inside Syria, causing significant damage. The targets included:

Intelligence sites associated with Iran and its proxies

A logistics headquarters belonging to the Quds Force

A military logistics compound in Kiswah, a town south of Damascus

An Iranian military compound north of Damascus

Quds Force munition storage warehouses at Damascus International Airport

Intelligence systems and posts associated with the Quds Force

Observation and military posts and munitions in the Golan demilitarised zone

The IDF said it had also targeted Syrian military air defence systems after they fired at the fighter jets despite an Israeli "warning".

Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman later told a conference in the town of Herzliya that the IDF had "hit almost all of the Iranian infrastructure in Syria".

"They must remember that if it rains here [in Israel], it will pour there," he said. "I hope that we have finished this chapter and that everyone got the message."However, Syria's military declared it had "thwarted a new Israeli act of aggression" and that its air defences "destroyed a large part" of the missile barrage.

Three people were killed by the missiles, a spokesman said. A radar station and an ammunition depot were also destroyed, and several air defence bases sustained damage, he added.

The Syrian Observatory reported that at least 23 people were killed, including five Syrian soldiers and 19 other allied fighters.

Russia, which is also supporting the Syrian military, said Israel fired 60 air-to-surface and 10 surface-to-surface missiles and that more than half were shot down