Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Israel has warned Syria's government that any aggression against Israeli citizens will
be met with force, as a roadside bomb attack which injured Israeli troops prompted airstrikes
on Syrian targets. Addressing a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli strikes on Syrian territory targeted elements
"that not only facilitated, but also cooperated with, the attacks on our forces."
He added, "Our policy is very clear: We attack those who attack us."
The government of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is engaged in a long-running civil
war which has seen some conflict spill over into neighboring countries.
Four Israeli paratroopers were injured Tuesday when the bomb exploded under their patrol
jeep in the Golan Heights, near the frontier between Israel and Syria, the Israel Defense
Forces said. Before the explosion, Israeli forces had detected
suspicious movements near the border, the IDF said.
Israeli forces responded to the blast with artillery fire aimed at Syrian military targets
across the frontier, it said. This was followed by airstrikes early Wednesday.
"We will not tolerate any violation of our sovereignty and attacks against our soldiers
and civilians, and we will act unwaveringly and with strength against all those that are
acting against us, at every time and every place," said Israeli Defense Minister Moshe
Ya'alon. "We see the Assad regime as responsible for
what is going on in its territory, and if it continues to cooperate with terror organizations
that are trying to attack Israel, we will continue to extract a heavy price from him,
in a way which will make him regret his actions." A statement from the Syrian army command,
broadcast by Syrian state TV, said one soldier was killed and seven others injured in Israeli
airstrikes on a checkpoint in the Quneitra area. The Quneitra crossing is the only access
point between Syria and Israel and in the past has been fiercely fought over by Syrian
rebels and government forces. Israeli artillery, tank shells and armor-piercing
shells directed near the village of Seheit had also caused "material damage," the military
statement said. The Syrian army accused Israel of violating
the terms of a 1974 "disengagement agreement" between the two nations, and of seeking to
ease pressure on the "terrorists" it blames for the violence in Syria.
"The General Command of the Army and Armed Forces warns that these desperate bids of
provocations and escalations by these continuing acts of aggressions can risk the security
and the stability of the region and open up all possibilities," it said.
Netanyahu, in his Cabinet remarks, said Israel would continue to do all it could to prevent
the movement of weapons into Syria. The mountainous Golan was captured by Israel
in 1967 during the Six-Day War against Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Syria. A peace deal was reached
between Israel and Syria in 1974, and a U.N. observer force monitors the cease-fire line.
Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981.