Israel strikes Assad regime targets after errant mortars from Syria land in Israeli territory

by WorldTribune Staff, June 25, 2017

Israel, which has for the most part stayed out of the civil war in Syria, launched airstrikes on Assad regime targets on June 24 in response to wayward mortar shell fire in Syria that landed in Israeli territory.

Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israeli warplanes attacked a Syrian army position in Quneitra. Arab media reported at least two Syrian soldiers were killed in the strikes.

“In today’s IDF action we reiterated our policy: We are not prepared to accept any spillover or ‘trickle of fire’ from any front whatsoever,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on June 24.

“We will respond strongly to any firing at our territory,” he warned.

The IDF reported that ten projectiles landed in the northern Israeli Golan Heights, apparently as a spillover from the war in Syria. The Israeli military added that the retaliatory strike was aimed at two tanks and a position where the projectiles were fired into Israel.

The government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media (SCMM) said Syrian troops and their allies fought off an attack by insurgents on the outskirts of the southern city of Baath on the edge of the Golan Heights. The SCMM accused an Israeli helicopter of assisting insurgents in their attack on military outposts.

The IDF said the mortars from Syria landed in open areas and no injuries or damage was caused.

Israel’s military has asked Israelis to keep their distance from the Syrian border area. Many Israelis flock to the Golan Heights in the summer for hikes and fruit picking.

Israel has mostly stayed on the sidelines throughout Syria’s civil war, now in its seventh year, responding only with limited strikes when fire has spilled into Israel.


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