Blast Wounds 4 Israeli Troops in Golan, Netanyahu Vows 'Forceful' Response
A bomb along the Syria-Israel frontier in the occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday wounded four Israeli soldiers, the Israeli army said, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel would act "forcefully."
The army said in a statement that "an explosive device was detonated against IDF (Israeli military) soldiers patrolling the Israeli-Syrian border," adding that several soldiers were wounded in the attack.
In remarks to Agence France Presse, security sources confirmed the bombing, saying the explosion damaged an army jeep as it drove near the ceasefire line with Syria, outside the Druze town of Majdal Shams.
The Israeli media had earlier said the wounded soldiers sustained light to moderate injuries.
"The blast that hit the Israeli army jeep was apparently caused by a roadside bomb planted near the border fence in Majdal Shams. Israeli forces responded to the blast with artillery fire and the army said it hit several targets," the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
Israel said it fired shells at Syrian army posts and sent strong-worded warnings to the Syrian government through U.N. forces in the wake of the blast.
Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, analysts pointed to similarities with an explosion last week targeting troops along the Lebanese border, which was blamed on Hizbullah, and a similar attempt in the Golan on March 5.
An Israeli security source said Tuesday's incident targeted a patrol driving along the ceasefire line near the Druze town of Majdal Shams.
"The soldiers were in a jeep near the fence and they saw something suspicious, so they got out and that's when the device went off," the source told Agence France Presse.
The Israeli army confirmed four soldiers had been wounded by an explosive device, prompting troops to open fire on Syrian military positions.
"We view the Syrian army as responsible for this incident... this indicates our response to the attack," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner told reporters, saying it was the most serious incident on the Golan since the outbreak of the Syrian uprising in March 2011.
He was unable to confirm whether or not Hizbullah had been involved in the blast, which he said struck "adjacent to the fence, east of Majdal Shams, in the area under Israeli sovereignty."
Meanwhile, Netanyahu said Israel will act "forcefully" to defend itself.
"We will act forcefully to preserve Israel's security," he said in remarks broadcast on army radio, saying there were an increasing number of jihadists and Lebanese Hizbullah fighters on the Syrian side of the strategic plateau.
Israel occupied the Golan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move never recognized by the international community.
The bombing came four days after the blast targeting Israeli troops on the Lebanese border, very close to Syria, which prompted Israel to shell Hizbullah positions over the border.
On March 5, the Israeli army said troops on the Golan had opened fire on Hizbullah members as they tried to plant a bomb near the ceasefire line. It claimed to have struck the two fighters but did not say what weapon it used or whether they died.
Hizbullah did not comment on the incident.
Analysts linked the escalation in border tensions to a February 24 air strike which targeted a Hizbullah position in Lebanon, close to the Syrian border, which the group blamed on Israel.
If confirmed, it would be the first Israeli attack against Hizbullah inside Lebanon since their 2006 war, which killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and some 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Hizbullah had vowed to respond to the air strike.
"Israel has assessed that Hizbullah would attempt to find a way to express its displeasure, to put it mildly," wrote defense expert Alex Fishman in Israel's Yediot Aharonot newspaper earlier this week.
He said last week's attack was "a message" to Israel that it could not attack Hizbullah positions with impunity, saying: "You overdid it. When you bomb our weapons convoys in Syria, you are dealing with the Syrians. In Lebanon, you're dealing with us."
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet
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