Saturday, August 17, 2013

Israel retaliates after Syrian shells hit Golan Heights

(INN) The Israeli army fired into Syria after shells from the neighboring country hit the Israeli side of the Golan Heights on Saturday, a military spokesman said. IDF Radio reported the Israeli attack demolished a Syrian military position.

"Today, several shells fired from Syria landed in the central Golan heights, adjacent to the Israel-Syria border," the spokesman told AFP.

Israeli military "forces carried out a pinpoint strike, targeting the source of the shooting. A hit was confirmed."

The spokesman said at least three shells were confirmed to have hit Israel. He could not say whether the army considered the incidents cases of stray fire spilling over from the conflict in Syria.

A defense source told AFP the Israeli response took place after the Jewish state filed a complaint to the UN Disengagement Observer Force, which monitors the 1974 ceasefire line between Israel and Syria.

The Golan has been tense since the beginning of the civil war in Syria more than two years ago, but so far there have only been minor flare-ups as Syrian small arms fire or mortar rounds hit the Israeli side, prompting an occasional Israeli response.

Also on Saturday, seven wounded Syrians were taken into Israel for medical care, the military spokesman said.

Dozens of Syrians, including women and children, have been treated in hospitals in northern Israel since the beginning of the uprising in their country.