In response to Sunday morning’s attack from Syria, that left an Israeli boy dead, and two injured, the IDF launched nine strikes at Syrian Army positions. The IDF attacked with artillery and IAF missiles, and hit the Syrian Army 90th Division.
The car the Israelis were riding in was struck by a rocket launched from an area controlled by Assad’s army.
Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke with the family of Muhammad Karkara, the boy who was killed in the attack, and offered his condolences.
Mohamed, on vacation from school, accompanied his father, Fehmi Karkara, to work that day. Karkara is a contractor for the Ministry of Defense, and works on maintaining the border fence along the Golan Heights.
“Yesterday’s attack was an unprovoked act of aggression against Israel, and a direct continuation to recent attacks that occurred in the area,” IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said. “The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to breach Israel’s sovereignty and will act in order to safeguard the civilians of the State of Israel.”
“This is not a case of errant fire, but of an intentional attack,” he clarified after the attack Sunday. “The IDF will continue to watch the northern border and react to developments in the field accordingly.”
Minister of Defense Moshe Ya’alon stated after the attack in Syria:
“Tonight, the IDF attacked and destroyed a number of Syrian military targets. The attack took place following a serious incident yesterday which killed Israeli teenager Muhammad Karkara and injured two others. We hold Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the Syrian army responsible for what is happening in the area under their control, and we will respond aggressively and harshly against any provocation and violation of our sovereignty. Recently, there have been repeated attempts to act against Israel from the territory controlled by the Assad regime. We will not tolerate any harm of Israeli citizens and the IDF forces, and we will exact a heavy price from anyone who tries to disrupt our lives, whether it is the Syrian army and whether it is terrorist elements operating from Syrian territory.”
Minister Ya’alon sent his condolences to the Karkara and best wishes a speedy recovery to those injured during the incident yesterday.
Syria’s deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, demanded that the UN take action against Israel for “violating the 1974 ceasefire agreement” on the Golan Heights. He claims that Israel is supporting and helping the Syrian rebels who fighting against Assad’s army.
There has previously been a number of spillover attacks from Syria that landed in the Golan, but this is not the first that deliberately targeted Israel.
In March two Hezbollah-affiliated terrorists attempted to plant an explosive device near the Israel-Syria border in the northern Golan Heights. Later that month, a concealed explosive device was activated against IDF soldiers patrolling the Israel-Lebanon border. Additionally, an explosive device injured four IDF soldiers when it detonated under their patrol jeep near the Israel-Syria border.
Israel does not deny it is helping Syrians. Israel has by supplying free medical and hospital care to any injured Syria that makes it to border with Israel. The cost for Israel to treat enemy civilians has been in the million of dollars. The indirect payoff is that Syrian civilians are beginning to realize that the horror stories they heard about Israel aren’t true.
Content from Tazpit News Agency was used in this report.