Israel Strikes Syrian Army Targets in Retaliation for Attack on Golan Heights

The Israeli army attacked Syrian army targets in the south in response to an earlier attack on the Golan Heights which it attributed to Syrian forces.

Syrian state news agency reported on Friday, quoting a military source, that Israeli helicopters targeted three outposts in the Quneitra area of southwest Syria with anti-tank guided missiles, causing two injures and some fires. 

skip
– tweet

ככה נראה הערב הצד השני של הגדר

צילום ממג'דל שמס – דאנא ספדי pic.twitter.com/GMYhMov52p

— Noa Shpigel (@NoaShpigel) July 24, 2020

"A number of targets were struck, including SAF observation posts and intelligence collection systems located in SAF bases," the military said in a statement.

The strike came a few hours after the Israeli military said blasts were heard from the Syrian-held area of the Golan Heights. No casualties were reported but a building and an Israeli vehicle were damaged, it said.

The army believes that the blast on Friday was caused by an unsuccessful attempt by Syrian forces to intercept an Israeli drone with an anti-aircraft weapon. However, the army is not ruling out the possibility of intentional rocket fire. Both the army and the political echelon view the event as a serious infringement that Syria is responsible for.

A Syrian source told Lebanese network Al Mayadeen that Syrian air defenses responded to a target, probably an Israeli drone, in the nearby Quneitra area.

Earlier on Friday Haaretz reported that the Israeli military assessments increasingly expected that Hezbollah is preparing to retaliate for the killing of one of its operatives in Syria following a strike near Damascus that the group attributed to Israel.