Defense Minister Yaalon: We will make Syria regret its actions
“We hold the Assad regime responsible for what happens in its territory 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,” Defense Minister Ya’alon said.
Ya’alon also added that Israel will not tolerate any violation of its sovereignty and harm its soldiers and citizens, and we will respond with determination and strength to all who will work against us”. (Yoav Zitun)
Army attacks four targets, including a training camp, an artillery battery and Syrian army headquarters.
By Yoav Zitun, Roi Kais, YNET NEWS
The Israeli Air Force attacked four Syrian army targets in southern Syria overnight Tuesday in retaliation for the attack against IDF soldiers on the Golan Heights border, that left four soldiers wounded – one of them in critical condition.
The strike targeted a training camp, an artillery battery and Syrian army headquarters in the Syrian Golan.
On Tuesday afternoon, an explosive device detonated near an IDF patrol jeep traveling along Israel’s border fence with Syria in the area south of the Druze village of Majdal Shams. Four IDF soldiers were wounded in the blast, one was in serious condition, the others were in light to moderate condition.
Al-Arabiya reported Tuesday that the aim of the attack was to kidnap an Israeli soldier. The device used Tuesday contained thousands of fragments and cells, and in order to rule out a kidnapping attempt, IDF cannons immediately fired heavily to mask the area.
The IDF said that Syrian security forces were the ones who enabled and aided the Tuesday attack, and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said he holds President Bashar Assad’s regime responsible of the attack.
Al Arabiya reported that Israeli fighter jets attacked the headquarters of the 90th and 68th Divisions of the Syrian army in Quneitra. Syrian opposition sources reported that another military facility near the A’Salam freeway that connects between Damascus and Quneitra. A witness said that at least three explosions were heard in the area.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The airstrike that happened mere hours after the attack on the Golan border Tuesday, is the first time since the beginning of the Syrian civil war three years ago that Israel admits to an airstrike against Syria. Until now, Israel has only claimed responsibility for cross-border artillery fire.
Shortly after Tuesday’s attack, IDF tanks fired at Syrian outposts near the border, and Tammuz ultra-long-range missiles hit further outposts.
“The IDF reserves the right to operate in whatever way and time it sees fit in order to protect the citizens of Israel,” a statement on behalf of the army read Tuesday.
“Whoever dares strike us – is blood be on his own head,” Ya’alon said. “We hold the Assad regime responsible for what happens in its territory 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.”
Following the incident, the Northern Command is expected to intensify its operation procedures along the Syrian border. Army officials estimate that another attempt to harm IDF forces in the vicinity of the border will be carried out and the level of alert in the region will remain high due to fear of escalation.
Army officers estimate that those who placed the explosive device chose the area of operation very carefully, while taking advantage of the fact that it is difficult to observe the region due to its mountainous terrain.
The force that was attacked Tuesday did not cross the border fence while the explosive device detonated. The IDF will examine whether it would be appropriate in the future to allow soldiers to leave their armored vehicles, in similar cases in which a force identifies suspects on the other side of the border.
While the army still does not know who stands behind the Tuesday attack, it is speculated that the culprit is Hezbollah, the terror organization that has become Syrian President Bashar Assad’s ally. The assumption remains held since the region in which the attack occurred is under Syrian army control, unlike most of the border fence with Israel, and since the organization is seen as responsible for the last two explosives that were placed in the area.
The new Golan Heights Division has recently formulated an operational outlook that is similar in the level of threats and coping with them as the Gaza Division.
In recent months, the establishment of a new combat-reconnaissance battalion was completed in the Golan Heights, which should provide a solution to the problematic area in which the explosive was placed, through advanced observation systems and radars that were deployed in the region. These systems have already proven successful in recent weeks with an early detection of the cell that placed an explosive in central Golan. On Tuesday, it seems, the army did not get an advanced warning.
Last Friday an improvised explosive device was detonated in the same area, targeting an IDF force near the border with Lebanon as it was patrolling in the Shebaa Farms area. The patrol, which included several reconnaissance vehicles, was hit by the IED, but no casualties were reported.
At the time, Ynet’s senior national security correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai claimed that it was almost certain that Hezbollah was attempting to fulfill its obligation to avenge and retaliate the bombing of a strategic weapons convoy, which was on its way to reach it some four weeks ago.
According to foreign reports, several Hezbollah militants were killed in an alleged Israeli attack in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley at the end of February. A Lebanese security source confirmed that at the time that Israeli warplanes struck targets in the coastal country with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claiming the attack targeted a Hezbollah “missile base.”
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