Within an hour of the shooting of a rocket from Syria that exploded in an open area in the northern Golan Heights, IDF forces attacked positions of the Assad army. In one of those attack, according to a Syrian source, a 130mm cannon was destroyed. The IDF issued a statement following the operation: “The IDF will not tolerate any attempt to harm the sovereignty of the State of Israel and the security of its residents.”
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, who is on a visit to Washington, referred to the attack, saying that any violation of the sovereignty of the State of Israel would be met with a determined response. “We regard the Assad regime as responsible for everything that is happening in its territory, and I suggest they not test our patience and our red lines.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech at a ceremony marking the jubilee of the liberation of the Jordan Valley: “We have a clear policy – anyone who tries to hurt us will be hurt by us.” He also stated: “Our eastern line of defense starts there, and if we would not be here, Tehran and Hamastan will be here, and we will not allow this to happen.”
“We see what happens a bit north of here when they try to settle down beyond our borders,” Netanyahu said. “We do not tolerate spillovers, and if we are hit, we return fire, and it doesn’t take long.”
The fire spillover and the IDF’s response to it are the result of new tension along the Syrian border, following an Israel Air Force strike that destroyed an anti-aircraft battery of the Syrian army last Monday. The IDF statement also warned that “the IDF views the Syrian regime as responsible for what is happening in its territory.”
Next time you want to start a civil war, think first…
The attack on Monday was carried out some 30 miles east of Damascus, after a Syrian anti-aircraft battery fired a missile at Israel Air Force planes on a reconnaissance mission in nearby Lebanon. An IDF source told Channel 2 News that the target of the air strike was the central radar of the battery, which was definitely damaged.
“We have aerial photographs – nothing else was attacked,” the source said, explaining that every anti-aircraft battery has two radars, and the air force deliberately attacked only one of them.
Four bombs were dropped on the radar, which “went out of service” as a result. Much like that 130mm cannon and a Syrian Army local headquarters that went out of service in two attacks on Quneitra Thursday.
