IDF fires shell at Syrian village near Golan Heights: Syrian state media report
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck a location within the Syrian village Khader in the Golan Heights just across the border with Israel, Syrian state media SANA reported.
According to SANA, Israeli forces fired a single shell which caused no damage or injuries and the target of the strike was not immediately clear. The IDF did not comment on the incident.
Last month, a series of strikes on military positions in Quneitra, also near the Golan Heights border, was confirmed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the first on regime positions along the border since mid-2018.
“We are working every day against Iran in Syria, including yesterday,” Netanyahu said before leaving for a US-led conference on Middle East peace and security in Warsaw.
According to Syrian state media, Israel had launched multiple strikes on military positions in Quneitra, striking a demolished hospital and an observation post, adding there had only been material damage.
Israel has previously acknowledged carrying out hundreds of attacks in Syria over the years against what it says are Iranian military targets and advanced arms deliveries to Hezbollah.
Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eizenkot confirming just before he left his post that the IDF had carried out “hundreds of strikes” in its northern neighbor targeting Iran and its allies.
Syrian soldiers arrive to Syria’s Quneitra border crossing between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, Thursday, July 26, 2018.AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
According to local Syrian reports, Israeli tanks shelled a number of Assad regime positions in Quneitra.
Israeli military sources said the strike on Quneitra had targeted Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen “trying to set up a base of operations near the Israeli border,” the Times of Israel reported.
The shelling was reportedly meant to serve as a warning to Syria and other Iranian proxies operating in the region that Israel would continue to act to thwart Tehran’s efforts to establish a permanent military presence on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.
Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights war monitor said seven shells struck regime positions in Quneitra, including a surveillance post. The Britain-based monitor said the attack caused casualties, without giving any figures
Just a few months ago, Israel reopened its side of the Quneitra border crossing following a joint deal with Syria and the US, who urged the two Middle East countries to facilitate the work of peacekeepers in the zone.
The opening of the border was meant to allow UN peacekeepers to step up their efforts to prevent hostilities in the Golan Heights region, and came as a result of Assad forces retaking the Syrian side of the crossing in July under a deal with rebel fighters brokered by Moscow.
Source: i24NEWS – IDF fires shell at Syrian village near Golan Heights: Syrian state media report