The White House released a statement on Thursday that condemned Iran's rocket attacks against Israel.
"The United States condemns the Iranian regime’s provocative rocket attacks from Syria against Israeli citizens, and we strongly support Israel’s right to act in self-defense," the White House's statement reads. "The Iranian regime’s deployment into Syria of offensive rocket and missile systems aimed at Israel is an unacceptable and highly dangerous development for the entire Middle East."
The New York Times reports that Iranian forces fired at least 20 rockets into Golan Heights.
Iranian forces in Syria fired about 20 rockets into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights early Thursday, targeting forward positions of the Israeli military, according to a military spokesman.
The spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, said Israel had responded to the attack but did not provide details. If confirmed, this would be the first rocket attack carried out directly by Iran, rather than by one of its proxies, against Israel.
The White House said Iran's Revolutionary Guard is responsible for the attack.
"Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) bears full responsibility for the consequences of its reckless actions, and we call on the IRGC and its militant proxies, including Hizballah, to take no further provocative steps," the statement said.
Israel later confirmed it responded to the attack with airstrikes on Iranian targets in Syria. The Israeli airstrikes targeted Iranian military infrastructure in Syria and was the biggest Israeli airstrike since the start of the Syrian civil war back in 2011.
"But I can say that in terms of our purpose, we focused less on personnel and more on capabilities and hardware...to inflict long-term damage on the Iranian military establishment in Syria. We assess it will take substantial time to replenish," Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus said.
The White House urged all nations to condemn Iran's actions.
"The United States also calls on all nations to make clear that the Iranian regime’s actions pose a severe threat to international peace and stability," the statement reads.
Iran's attack came less than two days after President Donald Trump announced the United States would withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), often referred to as the Iran nuclear deal. Iranian leaders threatened harsh reprisals against the United States following Trump's decision to abandon the nuclear deal and reimpose a series of harsh sanctions on Tehran.