The Israeli army said two rockets were fired from Syria into open areas in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights on Tuesday, marking the first time a strike has been launched toward Israel from Syrian territory since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December.

Syrian state media reported that Israel shelled the western countryside of Syria`s Daraa province after the rocket launch. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, also reported Israeli airstrikes that caused "violent explosions" around the city of Quneitra and in the Daraa countryside.

A group calling itself the Mohammed Deif Brigades ` named after a Hamas military leader killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza last year ` claimed the attack in a post on Telegram. The group first surfaced on social media a few days before. "Until now, it`s just a Telegram channel. It`s not known if it is a real group," said Ahmed Aba Zeid, a Syrian researcher who has studied armed factions in southern Syria.