A Merkava IV tank. FILE PHOTO: Rafael Advanced Defense Systems
On September 21 afternoon, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced that its tanks had shelled two temporary structures that were being used by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).
These structures violated the 1974 Disengagement Agreement between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights, the IDF said in a statement.
“The IDF holds the Syrian regime responsible for all activities emanating from its territory and will not allow any attempts to violate Israeli sovereignty,” the statement reads.
Syria’s Al-Watan newspaper confirmed that IDF tanks opened fire at an area located right to the west of the town of Hadar in the countryside of al-Qunitra governorate. The shelling resulted in material losses only, according to the pro-government newspaper.
The shelling came just a few hours after two men were killed in a drone strike that media outlets affiliated with the Syrian opposition alleged it was carried out by Israel. The strike took place near the town of Beit Jinn in the countryside of Damascus. Syrian opposition activists alleged that the two casualties were members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), but the group denied this.
Two waves of Israeli strikes hit Syria last week, specifically on September 13. The first wave targeted air defense bases in the western coastal governorate of Tartus, killing two service members and wounding several others. The second wave hit a military research center in the west-central governorate of Hama. Only material losses were reported there.
Hundreds of Israeli strikes targeted Syria over the past decade as a part of a covert military campaign known as “the war between the wars”. The IDF rarely acknowledges responsibility for the strikes.
Israel has been especially concerned with the presence of key allies of the SAA, including Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and the PIJ, near the al-Golan Heights Front.
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