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Syrian Army fires across border into Israel to retaliate for airstrikes
Israel and Syria traded fire across their border today in the third such incident in a week. Although Israel has not taken sides in Syria's civil war, it has been explicit that it is willing to take drastic measures to ensure that, amid Syria's chaos, advanced weapons do not drift unnoticed into the hands of the anti-Israel militant group and Damascus-ally Hezbollah.Earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was "preparing for every scenario" and that "we will act to ensure the security interest of Israel's citizens in the future as well," Reuters reports. The Israeli military confirmed today that their soldiers "returned precise fire" after Syria fired on Israeli troops in the Golan Heights, former Syrian territory that Israel annexed after the 1967 war. The Times of Israel reports that the Syrian Army stated that its troops "destroyed" an Israeli military vehicle, along with those in it, but that the Israel Defense Forces spokesman's office reported that a vehicle was "hit by light weapons fire, causing slight damage to the vehicle." It was the first time that the Syrian Army acknowledged firing across the border into Israel since the outbreak of civil war. Posted by: tipper 2013-05-21 |
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