Israel ‘Holds Syrian Regime Responsible’ as Border Spillover Attacks Continue

Syria’s civil war is straying into Israel, again. Educational sign post showing distance between major locations in the Middle East. Illustrative. By Joshua Spurlock

Syrian mortar fire hit Israeli territory again this weekend, as violent spillover from that nation’s civil war that was once a rare incident has now become a regular occurrence. Israel retaliated to projectiles that landed in Israel on both Friday and Saturday by hitting the Syrian military directly at the “source of the fire”, according to the IDF Spokesperson’s Twitter page. IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis was quoted by the Twitter page as stating that “Israel holds the Syrian regime responsible for any breach of its borders and will act accordingly.”

Since last Saturday, more than a dozen Syrian projectiles have hit Israeli territory and the IDF Spokesperson tweeted that after searches on the Syrian border last week “heavy machine gun bullet holes were identified” in a United Nations peacekeeping post near the border. Israeli civilians have been “instructed to stay away from open areas near the border” according to a video posted to the IDF Spokesperson’s Twitter page last week summarizing some of the incidents.

The recent and regular attacks have not yet resulted in Israeli injuries and the IDF Spokesperson’s Twitter posts characterized both incidents as “an errant projectile from internal fighting in Syria,” underscoring that Israel recognizes that Syria isn’t targeting Israel directly. Nonetheless, the repeated incidents are dangerously troubling and Israel has a public policy of not allowing violations of their sovereign territory.

Last Sunday, as the latest series of incidents was just getting started, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in comments released by his office, “We will not tolerate any spillover or trickle whatsoever – neither mortars nor rockets, from any front. We will respond strongly to any attack on our territory or our citizens.”

(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, July 2, 2017)

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