Southern Israel hit by rocket barrage, Iron Dome intercepts 5 over Ashdod

Cities around southern Israel were barraged with rockets Sunday night around 8:00 p.m. The Iron Dome Missile Defense System managed to intercept five rockets over Ashdod, while other rockets landed in open areas. There have not been reports of injuries or damage. During this latest barrage, rocket alert sirens were sounded in Jerusalem, Yavne, Gan Yavne, Modi'in, Ariel, Kiryat Malahi, the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, Ashdod, and the Eshkol Regional Council.   There were no reports of rockets landing in Modi'in or Jerusalem. About an hour after the rocket shellings in the south, a stray rocket from Syria was fired and landed in an open area in the Golan Heights. No injuries or damage were reported. It is thought that the rocket from Syria was a stray rocket that landed in Israeli territory from the fighting there. On Sunday afternoon, the Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted rockets over the greater Tel Aviv area at around 4:30 p.m. as Israel came under a wide-ranging attack from Gaza.A rocket siren which went off in the far north Nahariya region turned out to be a false alarm, the IDF said after checking the matter. Two rockets fired from Lebanon landed in northern Israel the previous day.Magen David Adom EMS said that so far there were no bodily injuries from the barrage of rocket fire but that some were treated for anxiety throughout the country.At the same time as two rockets were shot out of the sky by the Iron Dome over Tel Aviv, rocket sirens sounded in Hadera, Zichron Yaakov and Binyamina, south of Haifa. Shrapnel from a rocket intercepted over Rishon Lezion fell into the city.Minutes before the barrage, the IAF struck 2 rocket launchers used to fire on Ashdod and Beersheba as well as at a third rocket launcher in north Gaza used to fire on central Israel.Earlier in the morning on Sunday, a fresh slew of rockets were fired from Gaza at southern Israel as the IDF alerted tens of thousands of residents in northern Gaza to vacate the area by noon ahead of more intensive IAF attacks on rocket launchers and commanders there.  Meanwhile, a rocket fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip landed in Ashkelon on Sunday shortly after noon, causing moderate-to-serious injuries to a 16-year-old boy and lightly wounding another person. Jpost.com Staff and Reuters contributed to this report.