Blast wounds three Israeli soldiers near Syria border
Staff Writer, Al Arabiya News
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
A bomb detonated near an Israeli military patrol in the Syria-Israel frontier in the occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday wounded three Israeli soldiers, Israeli media reported.
The army said in a statement that “an explosive device was detonated against IDF (Israeli military) soldiers patrolling the Israeli-Syrian border,” adding that several soldiers were wounded in the attack, AFP reported.
Security sources confirmed the bombing, saying the explosion damaged an army jeep as it drove near the ceasefire line with Syria, outside the Israeli Druze town of Majdal Shams, without giving further details.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will act “forcefully” to protect itself after the blast.
It was one of several incidents this month on Israel’s northern borders with Syria and Lebanon.
Israel said Friday it shelled a position belonging to the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah inside Lebanon, in response to a blast targeting its troops along the border.
And the army said on March 5 it had opened fire on and hit two Hezbollah members as they tried to plant a bomb near the Israeli-Syrian ceasefire line.
Hezbollah, which supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has threatened to retaliate after an air raid in February, in what was first reported Israeli strike on the group inside Lebanon since a devastating 2006 summer war between the arch-foes.
There was no immediate indication that Hezbollah was involved in Tuesday’s blast.
[With AFP]