Israel Claims to Hit 2 Hizbullah Fighters on Golan Border
Israel said Wednesday it fired at and hit two members of Hizbullah as they tried to plant a bomb near the Israeli-Syrian border, but Syrian state media accused the Jewish state of targeting its forces.
"Earlier today, two Hizbullah-affiliated terrorists were identified attempting to plant an explosive device near the Israel-Syria border in the northern Golan Heights,” the army said in a statement.
“IDF (Israeli army) forces... fired towards the suspects (and) hits were identified," it said.
The army did not specify what weapons were used to fire at the suspected Hizbullah members.
The incident came just over a week after reports that Israeli warplanes bombarded a Hizbullah position in Janta on the Lebanese-Syrian border.
Israel neither confirmed nor denied carrying out the two February 24 strikes, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the Jewish state would do "everything necessary" for its own security.
Hizbullah threatened to retaliate for what was the first reported Israeli air raid on a position of the Shiite party inside Lebanon since the 2006 war between them.
Syria's state news agency SANA, citing a military source, said that Israeli forces fired four tank shells toward the Golan village of al-Hamidiya, hitting a school and a mosque early Wednesday. It said Israeli forces also fired another four shells toward another area called al-Houriyah, and then opened fire a third time, again toward al-Hamidiya.
It said the attacks wounded seven members of the security forces and four civilians. It provided no further information.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported that Israeli forces fired several tank shells and two missiles toward the Golan Heights. The group said one missile hit a school in the village of al-Hamidiyeh, where Syrian troops were concentrated. The Observatory obtains its news from a network of activists in Syria.
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet, Associated Press
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