by Our Foreign Desk

ISRAEL bombed southern Syria yesterday, killing five civilians and a soldier in retaliation for an alleged rocket attack.

Syrian TV reported that an Israeli drone strike destroyed a civilian car close to a busy market in the village of Kom and killing the five.

Another Israeli air raid overnight in Quneitra reportedly killed the soldier and wounded seven people.

Israel claimed that Palestinian resistance group Islamic Jihad, Iran and Syria were all behind the four rockets that hit a field in northern Galilee on Thursday harming no-one.

“The military struck the cell that carried out the shooting and the Syrian forces that allowed it. We have no intention of escalating events,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Those countries that are quick to embrace Iran should know that it was an Iranian commander who endorsed and directed the cell that fired at Israel.”

In Gaza, Islamic Jihad denied involvement in the attack, while Syrian TV said that the air raids were designed to “boost the morale of terrorist organisations,” accusing Israel of backing militants in the area.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said his government was considering a US request for six Royal Australian Air Force jets based in Dubai to bomb Islamic State (Isis) targets in Syria.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten vowed to press Mr Abbott about the legality of Australian involvement without Syrian assent or a UN security council resolution.

“We will be seeking an explanation of the legal basis,” Mr Shorten told reporters. “Is it legal, what the United States has asked us to do?”

New York-based Human Rights Watch called on Thursday for the UN security council to impose an arms embargo on Syria following the latest rebel claims that that the air force had targeted civilians.

The Syrian armed forces and allied Hezbollah guerillas from neighbouring Lebanon have been struggling to hold back offensives by Isis and other foreign-backed extremists.

Isis demolished the 1,500-year-old Saint Elian Christian monastery near the town of Qaryatain yesterday.