Israel Launches Air Strikes on Syria After Golan Heights Attack

Israeli aircraft struck Syrian military targets on Monday, the Israeli army confirmed in a rare statement, BBC reports. 

"Syrian state media acknowledged the strikes, reporting unspecified "material damage" at military outposts near the capital Damascus.

"The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was retaliation for a bombing attempt," reads the article. 

The IDF said earlier it had killed four men planting explosives near the Israeli-occupied sector of Golan Heights late on Sunday.

Surveillance footage showed the group engulfed in an explosion.

Military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus said it was too soon to say if the men belonged to a specific organization, but that Israel held "the Syrian regime accountable".

"Monday's attack targeted "observation posts and intelligence collection systems, anti-aircraft artillery facilities and command and control systems" in Syrian army bases in Qunaitra, the IDF said.

"The IDF holds the Syrian government responsible for all activities on Syrian soil, and will continue operating with determination against any violation of Israeli sovereignty," the statement added.

"Syria's official news agency Sana reported that the Syrian army had activated its air defenses late on Monday against "hostile targets" near the capital Damascus," reads the publication. 

Tensions have been on the rise along Israel's borders with Lebanon and Syria after a fighter with Hezbollah, a Lebanese Iran-backed armed group, was killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike in Syria in July.

By Ana Dumbadze 

Source: BBC 

Read the full article here

Image: Reuters