1ST LEAD Syria says Israeli airstrike kills five By Ramadan al-Fatash and Shabtai Gold

Cairo (dpa) - Five people were killed on Friday in an Israeli airstrike on a car in Syria, Syrian state media and activists reported.Syrian television said all those killed in Quneitra, on the Syrian side of the the Golan Heights, were civilians. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said those killed served in paramilitary units loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.The Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike in the area in retaliation for rocket strikes on Thursday, which Israel said were fired by militants from Syria."The IDF hit both the cell that carried out the firing and the Syrian forces that made it possible," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement, referring to the army by its acronym."We have no intention to escalate events," Netanyahu added, but said Israel would take action against any attackers.Israeli officials speaking with local media outlets said at least four militants from the Islamic Jihad were killed in the strike.On Thursday, Israel accused the group, which it says receives Iranian backing, of firing rockets from Syria into northern Israel. Netanyahu said an Iranian commander directed the rocket attacks on Thursday, which caused no injuries.The Britain-based Observatory said that Israel has since carried out several airstrikes against Syrian military posts in Quneitra and near the capital Damascus, destroying arms depots.Since Syria‘s civil conflict started in 2011, the border area with Israel has seen occasional violence.Last month, Syrian activists reported that an Israeli airstrike in Quneitra killed fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement battling alongside al-Assad‘s troops.Israel did not comment on those reports.