Israel Responds after Syrian Shell Hits Golan

Israel responded with tank fire into Syria on Thursday after a Syrian mortar shell landed in the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan Heights, the army said.

"In response to the projectile that hit Israel earlier today, the Israel Defense Forces targeted the sources of fire in the Syrian Golan Heights," it said in an English-language statement.

It did not identify the sources of the Syrian fire nor say whether it considered it to be a deliberate attack or unintentional spillover from the Syrian civil war, as in several previous incidents.

It said the mortar shell fell on open ground and caused no injuries.

On Monday, Israel carried out an air strike on an anti-aircraft battery in Syria after it fired at its planes on surveillance flights over neighboring Lebanon.

Israel has sought to avoid becoming directly involved in the six-year civil war in Syria, though it acknowledges carrying out dozens of air strikes to stop what it calls advanced arms deliveries to Lebanon's Hizbullah.

The group, against which Israel fought a devastating 2006 war, is militarily backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in the conflict.

Israel seized 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles) of the Golan Heights from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.