Israeli Troops Fire at Man on Golan Heights

Israeli troops on Wednesday opened fire at a man walking from Syrian-held territory towards the Israeli-annexed zone of the Golan Heights, an army spokeswoman said.

"Soldiers identified a suspect approaching the border fence in the southern Golan Heights," she told Agence France Presse.

"The soldiers called upon the suspect to retreat. After the suspect failed to comply the soldiers fired warning shots into the air, and after he continued to approach they fired toward his legs."

She could not say if he was wounded. But news website Ynet said he was evacuated from the scene by United Nations observer forces.

Israel's northern border has been tense since the outbreak two years ago of an anti-regime uprising in Syria that has turned into a bloody civil war, at times spilling over with mortar and gunfire into the Israeli-held zone.

Tensions rose after an Israeli air strike inside Syria last month for which Damascus has threatened to retaliate.

Israel seized the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1981, in a move never recognized by the international community.