Once again the northern Golan Heights was shelled Friday, allegedly due to “errant fire” that went astray in the battle between Syrian regime forces and those from the opposition.
It’s not clear which of the forces supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fired the mortar shell this time, and at least two of Assad’s allies — the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group, and the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps — are both deadly enemies of Israel, dedicated to her annihilation.
Assad’s opposition are not exactly Israeli playmates either: the Free Syrian Army is a conglomeration of forces that run the gamut from secular to moderately Islamist Syrians, all of whom have been raised to believe Israelis have horns and tails. Also among the opposition forces is the Peshmerga force, comprised of Kurdistani Syrians who essentially want only their independence; the Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra (Al Nusra Front) terrorist group; the Islamic State (Da’esh / ISIS) terrorist organization, and various other Salafi extremist groups.
It’s anyone’s guess who really fired the “projectile” — the fifth attack since last Saturday — this time around. The IDF continues to insist “the errant projectile is a result of internal fighting in Syria.”
The shell hit an open area in the Golan Heights, according to the statement from the Israel Defense Force. No injuries were reported.
What is absolutely certain: with half of the world involved in the mess taking place in what was once called Syria, the last thing Israel’s leadership wants is to get sucked in to a war in the north that could easily ignite World War III. The IDF will probably tag as “errant fire” as many injury-free attacks in the north as need be, in order to stay out of that nightmare.