Golan Heights – An Israeli military border patrol vehicle was hit by stray bullets fired from Syria in the Golan Heights on Sunday but there were no casualties, a military spokeswoman said.
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The incident was the latest apparent stray firing during gunbattles in Syria between the forces of President Bashar al-Assad and insurgents who have been fighting a 20-month-long civil war.
“Gunfire hit a patrol vehicle along the border but caused no damage; a complaint was lodged with the United Nations which is investigating,” the spokeswoman said.
Israel has been on high alert along its northern border as the insurgency throughout Syria has spread to villages and towns nearby. Similar spillovers from fighting have alarmed other neighbours of Syria, including Lebanon and Turkey.
The U.N. has a peacekeeping force in the area monitoring a ceasefire in place since the 1970s. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war and later annexed it in a move never recognised internationally.
Technically, Syria and Israel are still at war, but the Golan, a strategic plateau, has been largely quiet for decades.
Last week Israeli troops fired artillery shells into Syria in response to a number of incidents in which mortar shells and bullets hit Israeli military and civil installations on the Golan Heights.
It will never end unless Israel goes in & cleans the rats out.
A poll conducted during “cease-fire” negotiations showed 85% of those polled in Israel wanted the IDF to go in & rip Gaza apart. The country is sick & tired of being under attack. My very secular, dovish family, who have children in the reserves & who were called up, agreed. What’s more, their son is an advance specialist who would be in the first groups to go in on foot. And they still wanted to see a permanent end to this ongoing terror, knowing the risks to IDF. Yes, morale was low BECAUSE they wanted to go In wipe the terrorists out. You think a cease fire will last? Sure, until the next batch of arms from Iran gets through Egypt. Try doing some research before offering your pontifications.