Israel hits Syrian targets after stray fire
Israeli aircraft hit two Syrian army tanks and a heavy-machine-gun position in buffer zone
The Israeli air force struck three Syrian army targets in the Golan Heights on Saturday, after errant fire from the Syrian side landed in Israeli-controlled territory.
Israel’s military spokesman said that 10 projectiles fired from Syria landed in open areas on the Israeli-controlled side of the Golan Heights. Israel’s government said the fire was a result of fighting in Syria and not intentionally aimed at Israeli soldiers or civilians.
In response, an Israeli aircraft hit two Syrian army tanks and a heavy-machine-gun position on the Syrian side of the buffer zone that separates the two countries, the spokesman said.
The Israel Defence Forces released aerial video of the air strikes. The spokesman did not say whether the errant fire from Syria consisted of mortar rounds, artillery shells or bullets. Iran said yesterday the two-stage missiles it fired at Daesh targets in Syria broke apart over the Iraqi desert as planned, mocking reports that some of the projectiles fell short.
State TV’s website quoted the airspace division chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Gen Amir Ali Hajizadeh as saying “we had coordinated the fall of the engines in the desert in Iraq” in advance.
“The missiles we used were two-stage, it means that the engine separates from the warhead,” said Hajizadeh.
Hajizadeh said US drones hovered over the targets shortly after the Iranian missiles hit them. He said the US may have been informed beforehand about the attack, as they had informed the Russian military.
The Guard said it fired six such missiles yesterday at Daesh targets in the city of Deir Al Zor, more than 600 kilometres away.
He mocked media reports citing Israeli sources who said some of the missiles fell short of their targets, suggesting that the Israelis were unable to identify two-stage missiles, which are designed to split apart mid-flight. “Pity those who call themselves experts and do not understand that these were the first-stage engines (that fell), while the warheads hit targets.”
Syrian media reported that at least two people were killed as a result of the Israeli strikes on the outskirts of the Syrian farming town of Quneitra, which is visible from the Israeli side and has been a scene of frequent clashes in the six-year conflict between anti-government forces and the Syrian army.
Syria’s state news agency, quoting a Syrian army communique, alleged that the Israeli strikes coincided with an attack by militants in the area and suggested that Israel was aiding the Islamist forces, according to Reuters news agency.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli retaliatory strike “made our policy clear: We are not willing to accept any spillover or leakage of fire from any front. We will respond with force to any fire on our territory.”
On Saturday, Israel lodged a complaint about the errant fire with the UN Disengagement Observer Force, a peacekeeping mission operated by international troops that monitors the 1974 buffer zone between Israel and Syria.
Car bomb kills 10 in Idlib
Meanwhile, a car bomb killed 10 people in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, reported yesterday.
The attack occurred in a market in the town of Al Dana, located in the north of the province near the border with Turkey, according to the Observatory.
Three people under 18 were among the dead and the blast also injured at least 30 other people, it said. Another bombing in the town after midnight on Friday killed two people, it added.
Rebel groups in Idlib province have been sporadically fighting each other since early this year. Rebels have also accused Daesh of carrying out attacks in the area. Idlib province is a major stronghold of rebels in Syria and is situated along the border with Turkey.