Rocket salvo sparks Israeli warning to Hamas

Syria oppn unites as Israel fires shot

Syria's opposition has agreed to unite against Assad, as Israel fired warning shots into the country.

"Hamas is responsible for the rocket fire and all other attempts to harm our soldiers and civilians, even when other groups participate. And it is Hamas that will pay the heavy price," he said.

Israeli media reported that Egypt was attempting to broker a ceasefire.

Many of the rockets fired into Israel from Gaza in recent months have been fired by Islamic Jihad and other Salafist groups in Gaza who do not answer to Hamas.

But Hamas has claimed responsibility for the latest spate.

Israel intensified attacks after a rocket hit one of its military jeeps on Saturday on patrol on the Israeli side of the border, injuring four soldiers. Israel's response killed four Palestinians.

Rocket fire from Gaza then intensified, hitting several homes in Sderot, the Israeli city closest to Gaza. Four Israeli civilians were wounded. One resident, teacher Moshik Levy, whose car was hit as he was driving, told Army Radio: "Shattered glass from my car windshield exploded into my face.

"I started bleeding. I didn't understand what was happening. Thankfully I was alone."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet yesterday: "The world needs to understand that Israel will not sit with arms crossed when faced by attempts to hurt us."

Leading Israel military analyst Alex Fishman wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper yesterday that "a limited military operation" was inevitable. "Israel has no interest in replacing Hamas with a more extreme element," he wrote.

"The limited military operation should achieve one main goal: a long-term ceasefire. And this can be achieved if the targets that are chosen take into account minimal harm to the civilian population."

Israel on Sunday night, Australian time, fired an anti-tank missile as a warning shot into Syria from the Golan Heights after a mortar shell from Syria hit one of its defence posts. It was the first time Israel has fired into Syria since 1973, breaking 40 years of quiet on the border.

In recent months, several shells from Syria have landed in the Golan Heights, but have not hit any facilities.

It is not clear whether the shells are being deliberately fired into Israel or are stray shells from the fighting between Syrian troops and opposition fighters from the Free Syrian Army. Israel Radio News last reported that the Israeli Defence Forces believed the firing into Israel was accidental.

The strategically important Golan Heights were taken by Israel during the 1967 war and are still claimed by Syria.

Israel is on alert for any movement of Syria's chemical and biological weapons.

Its main concern is that amid the current chaos in Syria some of those weapons may be transferred to Syria's ally, Hezbollah, in neighbouring Lebanon.

President Barack Obama has said that, for the US, the movement of those weapons would trigger a possible direct intervention in Syria.

The intelligence services of several countries are believed to be along the Jordanian and Turkish borders trying to monitor those stockpiles.

Defectors from the Syrian regime have said they believe President Bashar al-Assad would be prepared to use those weapons against his own people if he felt cornered.