Damascus claims it destroyed Israeli military vehicle on joint border

The tense relations between Israel and Syria deteriorated further yesterday with a cross-border clash, raising fears of a major conflagration on the Golan Heights border that divides the two nations.

The Syrian military said it destroyed an Israeli vehicle that crossed the ceasefire line in the Golan Heights “and everyone in it”, and warned that Syria will respond firmly in the future.

“The blatant Zionist aggression confirms that any violation or attempted violation of the country’s sovereignty will be met with immediate and firm retaliation,” the Syrian military said in a statement.

Syria’s deputy propaganda minister Khalaf al-Muftah implied that Syria has adopted a tougher position vis-á-vis Israel, stressing the Syrian military is prepared to respond to every security threat: “The rules of the game have changed.”

Light fire
Israel would admit only that one of its military vehicles was hit, without any injuries, in the third consecutive day of light weapons fire from the Syrian side of the border.

In response, Israel fired a Tamuz guided missile at the source of the fire and claimed to have destroyed a Syrian military outpost.

Although there have been numerous incidents of cross-border fire since the start of the Syrian uprising two years ago, Israel believed that most of the cases were connected to the fierce battles between the Syrian army and rebels, with some mortar bombs and small arms fire erroneously landing on the Israeli side of the border.

However, yesterday’s incident marked the first time Damascus acknowledged shooting across the border into Israel. Israeli military officials acknowledged that the Syrian fire over the last few days was a deliberate attempt to target Israeli troops. Israel’s defence minister Moshe Ya’alon said that Israel’s policy on Syria was clear. “We do not interfere in the civil war, but we will not allow it to enter our territory.”

Israel captured the strategic Golan Heights plateau from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War. Although Damascus has always stated that returning the Golan Heights to Syrian sovereignty was a top priority, for more than 40 years the border was Israel’s quietest.

Those days are over.

The Israel defence forces chief of staff Lieut Gen Benny Gantz visited Israeli forces on the Golan yesterday.

He warned that Israel was constantly at risk of being sucked into security deterioration at any moment, which could rapidly spin out of control.

“We will not let the Golan Heights become a convenient space of response for Assad,” Lieut Gen Gantz said. “We will defend and respond if and when we need to.”

Despite the fact Israel has, according to foreign reports, attacked Syria three times in the last year, targeting advanced weapons destined for Hizbullah in Lebanon, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu claimed this week that Israel has no favourites in the Syrian civil war.

Aiding rebels
But underlying the growing tensions between Jerusalem and Damascus, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad accused Israel of supporting the rebels by giving them logistical support and intelligence.

Syrian and Lebanese television stations broadcast images this week of an Israeli army vehicle which the Syrians say was evidence that Israel assisted rebels in Qusayr. Israel claimed the 4x4, which had Hebrew writing on it, had been left behind when Israeli forces withdrew from Lebanon in the 1980s.

Israel, fearing a spillover from the civil war, has deployed higher-quality and better-trained troops on the Golan border during the last year. The border fence is being rebuilt and intelligence observation along the frontier has been beefed up. Meanwhile, the tense standoff continues as both sides ratchet up rhetoric.