The IDF mounted a counter-terrorism attack on the Syrian part of the Golan Heights on Monday, following a sniper attack at the Israeli side of the Golan Heights, an IDF spokesperson has stated.
The vehicle involved in the assault was attacked by Israeli helicopters, an IDF statement read.
The IDF “identified an attempted sniper attack from Syria toward the Golan Heights in northern Israel. In response, the army “targeted the vehicle involved in the attempted attack,” it stated.
The United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated that the car had been carrying terrorists and was destroyed by the Israeli Air Force (IAF).
“Even on Election Day, our enemies are trying to hurt us, hurt the citizens of Israel, and disrupt the routine of our lives,” Israel’s Defense Minister Naftali Bennett stated, adding that “even on this day, as in all times of the year, we will cut off our enemies’ hands and not allow them to disrupt the routine of our lives. We will continue to give security to the citizens of the State of Israel.”
Monday’s incident comes after the IDF killed a man last Thursday in a strike inside Syria.
Various reports claim the man, killed in the Druze town of Khader, in the Quneitra area, adjacent to the Israeli Golan Heights, was a senior Hezbollah operative named Imad Tawil who was entrusted with developing Iran’s infrastructure in the areas adjacent to Syria’s border with Israel.
Israel has previously bombed Hezbollah and Iranian infrastructure under construction in the area.
The IDF in March 2019 announced that it had exposed a clandestine Hezbollah unit that was operating in southern Syria in the area near the border with Israel and where today’s attack occurred.
The unit’s objective is to establish another front against Israel from the Golan Heights, in addition to Hezbollah’s threat from Lebanon.
The IDF published classified information about the “Golan File,” the name for the unit which is commanded by Ali Musa Daqduq, a senior operative in the Lebanon-based terrorist organization.
Daqduq is wanted in the US for 2007 attacks on American servicemen in Iraq and was described by the US Treasury Department as “commander of a Hezbollah special forces unit and chief of a protective detail for Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah.”
The purpose of the Hezbollah infrastructure is to act against Israel at a time of deterioration. The infrastructure is at its preliminary stages and has yet to reach the level needed for operational activity and is still in the process of development and consolidation.
Since the exposure of the unit, Israel has reportedly acted against the Iranian-led attempt on several occasions.
In general, Iran’s military build-up in Syria remains a red line for Israel. The IAF has carried out thousands of attacks to thwart the Iranian entrenchment in the war-torn country.