Israel carried out airstrikes against Syrian military targets on Monday night, in response to a thwarted terrorist attack after a Syrian cell infiltrated Israeli territory the night before.
Israeli fighter jets and helicopters targeted “lookout posts and intelligence gathering systems, anti-aircraft artillery facilities and command and control systems” at Syrian military bases, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a rare statement acknowledging the strikes.
“The IDF sees the Syrian regime as responsible for all operations carried out in its territory and will continue to act with determination against all attacks on the sovereignty of the State of Israel,” the IDF said.
Syrian air defenses intercepted “enemy targets” southwest of Damascus on Monday night, the Syrian SANA state news agency reported, adding the strikes only caused “material damage.”Al-Arabiya, however, reported there were injuries.
On Monday, a four-member Syrian terror cell planted improvised explosive devices inside an unmanned IDF outpost along the border, the military said.
“An IDF force foiled an attempt to place explosive devices along the border with Syria,” the army said in a statement.
“Special forces that were carrying out an ambush near an IDF post in the southern Golan Heights spotted a cell with a number of terrorists planting explosive devices along the border.”
Soldiers from the Maglan special forces unit and aircraft opened synchronized fire on the four armed terrorists, killing them all, the army said.
No Israeli soldiers were injured.
The army is investigating the origin of the terror cell, IDF Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman said shortly after the incident. He added it is still unclear whether the incident was connected to a recent infiltration by the Hezbollah terror group.
“We don’t know who sent them, there are a lot of players in Syria, some acting for Iran and some not,” he said. “We cannot say right now that this is a Hezbollah attack, but we can’t rule it out either.”
“I believe in the coming days we’ll know better about what organization they were a part of,” he said.
He added Syria would still be held responsible for any aggressive acts from its territory, including violations of Israeli sovereignty.
Zilberman also said the Northern Command is on high alert over concerns of a retaliatory attack by Hezbollah following the death of an operative in an alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria.
“We will continue to be on alert for many more days. We have a lot of patience,” he said.
According to Zilberman, the military identified several men in the guise of shepherds lurking in the area in recent days. The IDF then deployed reconnaissance troops from the Maglan unit.
The cell crossed the Alpha Line between Syria and Israel, Zilberman said.
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