Syrian Rocket Hits Golan, IDF Responds; Incident Third This Week

The IDF shelled a military position in Syria on Wednesday night after a rocket struck the Golan Heights. The shell fell in an open area causing no casualties or property damage. The army said the missile as a result of errant fire from the civil war in Syria. The missile strike and IDF response was the third since June 24.

The incident occured as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke during a ceremony celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of Katzrin, a city of some 7,000 and the largest Jewish community in the territory captued from Syria in the Six Day War. “I said that we will not tolerate spillover and that we will respond to every incident,”  Netanyahu said as he confirmed that the IDF had responded a short time later.

“Whoever attacks us – we will attack him. This is our policy and we will continue with it,” Netanyahu said.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Israeli warplanes targeted Syrian regime forces in the area of Samadaniyah, near the Israel-Syria border town of  Quneitra. The group said the IDF destroyed mortar launchers, but did not release information about  casualties.

“Our line is clear: We are not interfering in the bloody conflict in Syria, which has lasted more than six years, but we are determined to respond firmly and forcefully to any violation of our sovereignty,” said Netanyahu at Katzrin.  “Anyone who fires at our territory and endangers our citizens will face a harsh and quick response.”

“We are not willing to accept any ‘leaks’ or a ‘steady drizzle’ [of rockets] on the Golan or anywhere else,” he continued. “Similarly, we will not allow radical Islam, led by Iran or ISIS, to constitute a terrorist front against the State of Israel from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.”