Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — Israel and Syria have been exchanging fire along the Golan Heights, mostly controlled by Syrian rebels.

On March 19, the Israel Air Force, in its biggest operation of the three-year civil war, attacked several Syrian military targets around Quneitra after a bomb injured four Israeli soldiers on the Golan.

“The recent incidents along the northern border are directly linked to the growing confidence by Syria and Hizbullah over what they regard as the success in the war in Syria over the last few weeks,” Israeli military analyst Alex Fishman said.

“Early Wednesday morning [March 19], the IDF targeted several Syrian Army positions that aided and abetted the attack against IDF soldiers Tuesday,” the Israeli military said. “The targets included a Syrian Army training facility, military headquarters, and artillery batteries.”

Military sources said Hizbullah, after years of restraint, was believed to have been operating along the Syrian frontier with Israel. They said the regime of President Bashar Assad was allowing Hizbullah forces to attack Israel Army units in an effort to escalate tension with the Jewish state.

The sources said Hizbullah wanted to deter Israel from stopping Iranian
shipments of advanced weapons to Lebanon. They said Hizbullah was believed
to have obtained approval from Teheran for the attacks after Israel struck a
weapons convoy for the Shi’ite proxy in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Feb. 25.

“The attack against IDF troops yesterday is an unacceptable escalation
of violence from Syria,” Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner
said on March 19.

The sources said Hizbullah was believed to have been operating from
Syrian military facilities in the Golan Heights. They said the Israeli
intelligence community was tracking the flow of hundreds of Hizbullah
fighters into the Syrian-controlled portion of the Golan.

“We hold the Assad regime responsible for what happens in its
territory,” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said. “And if it continues
to collaborate with terrorists striving to hurt Israel,
then we will keep on exacting a heavy price from it and make it regret its
actions.”

  ‘Growing confidence by Syria and Hizbullah’ tied to spike in clashes on Israel’s northern border, Bekaa Valley, IDF, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, Quneitra