22 aug 2015
Islamic Jihad Movement denied in a statement issued Saturday that any of its members were in the car that has been targeted in an Israeli air strike on the Syrian Golan Heights on Friday.
The Syrian state TV source reported Friday that an Israeli air strike hit a car in a village in the Syrian Golan, killing five civilians.
An Israeli military official claimed that the people killed were “Palestinian militants from Islamic Jihad.”
"These are all lies ... Islamic Jihad has no armed presence outside Palestine," a group spokesman said.
The Israeli allegations aim at mixing up cards and creating flimsy pretexts to carry out attacks, he added.
The Syrian state TV source reported Friday that an Israeli air strike hit a car in a village in the Syrian Golan, killing five civilians.
An Israeli military official claimed that the people killed were “Palestinian militants from Islamic Jihad.”
"These are all lies ... Islamic Jihad has no armed presence outside Palestine," a group spokesman said.
The Israeli allegations aim at mixing up cards and creating flimsy pretexts to carry out attacks, he added.
21 aug 2015
The Israeli Air Force carried out Friday a drone strike on Quneitra area in the Golan Heights, killing five civilians, Syrian state TV reported.
On the other hand, Israeli military sources claimed that Israeli Air Force targeted a car carrying members responsible for firing rockets yesterday in the Galilee and occupied Golan.
The Israeli military did not comment on the reported casualties but said it carried out a raid Friday morning on "part of the terror cell responsible for the rocket fire at northern Israel on Thursday."
Spokesperson for Israeli Army said Iran and Islamic Jihad movement were behind Thursday's rocket attack.
For its part, the Islamic Jihad Movement categorically denied the Israeli claim that it was responsible for firing rockets from Syria at the Galilee.
Earlier Thursday, Israel's channel 10 quoted an Israeli military source as saying that the armed wing of Islamic Jihad had fired, at the behest of Iran, four rockets from Syria at the Israeli side of the upper Galilee.
Israeli raid on Syria kills 5 civilians
At least five civilians have reportedly been killed in an Israeli air strike on an area in Syria’s strategic southwestern province of Quneitra close to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Syria’s state-run television network reported that the attack targeted a "civilian car" in the village of Kom, located some 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of the capital, Damascus, before midnight Thursday, and close to a popular market.
Quneitra governor Ahmad Sheikh Abdul-Qader said the airstrike was carried out on the road leading to the village of Khan Arnabeh, which lies near Kom.
The development came a day after Israeli military aircraft bombed an area in Quneitra in what the Tel Aviv regime claimed was a response to an earlier rocket attack from the Syrian soil into northern Israel. The Israeli attack left one person dead and seven others wounded, Syrian TV reported.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Thursday that “four rockets were launched from the Syrian Golan Heights, landing in the Upper Galilee” mountainous area near the Lebanese border and the Israeli-occupied side of Golan. “No injuries have been reported” due to the incident, according to the statement.
The Israeli military also released a statement, saying, "This was the work of (Palestinian) Islamic Jihad... and we consider the Syrian government responsible for the firing and it will suffer the consequences."
The Syrian government says Tel Aviv and its Western and regional allies are aiding the Takfiri terrorist groups operating inside Syria.
The Syrian army has repeatedly seized huge quantities of Israeli-made weapons and advanced military equipment from the foreign-backed militants inside Syria.
The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has reportedly claimed more than 240,000 lives up until now.
The United Nations says the militancy has displaced more than 7.2 million Syrians internally, and forced over four million others to take refuge in neighboring countries, including Jordan and Lebanon.
On the other hand, Israeli military sources claimed that Israeli Air Force targeted a car carrying members responsible for firing rockets yesterday in the Galilee and occupied Golan.
The Israeli military did not comment on the reported casualties but said it carried out a raid Friday morning on "part of the terror cell responsible for the rocket fire at northern Israel on Thursday."
Spokesperson for Israeli Army said Iran and Islamic Jihad movement were behind Thursday's rocket attack.
For its part, the Islamic Jihad Movement categorically denied the Israeli claim that it was responsible for firing rockets from Syria at the Galilee.
Earlier Thursday, Israel's channel 10 quoted an Israeli military source as saying that the armed wing of Islamic Jihad had fired, at the behest of Iran, four rockets from Syria at the Israeli side of the upper Galilee.
Israeli raid on Syria kills 5 civilians
At least five civilians have reportedly been killed in an Israeli air strike on an area in Syria’s strategic southwestern province of Quneitra close to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Syria’s state-run television network reported that the attack targeted a "civilian car" in the village of Kom, located some 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of the capital, Damascus, before midnight Thursday, and close to a popular market.
Quneitra governor Ahmad Sheikh Abdul-Qader said the airstrike was carried out on the road leading to the village of Khan Arnabeh, which lies near Kom.
The development came a day after Israeli military aircraft bombed an area in Quneitra in what the Tel Aviv regime claimed was a response to an earlier rocket attack from the Syrian soil into northern Israel. The Israeli attack left one person dead and seven others wounded, Syrian TV reported.
The Israeli military said in a statement on Thursday that “four rockets were launched from the Syrian Golan Heights, landing in the Upper Galilee” mountainous area near the Lebanese border and the Israeli-occupied side of Golan. “No injuries have been reported” due to the incident, according to the statement.
The Israeli military also released a statement, saying, "This was the work of (Palestinian) Islamic Jihad... and we consider the Syrian government responsible for the firing and it will suffer the consequences."
The Syrian government says Tel Aviv and its Western and regional allies are aiding the Takfiri terrorist groups operating inside Syria.
The Syrian army has repeatedly seized huge quantities of Israeli-made weapons and advanced military equipment from the foreign-backed militants inside Syria.
The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has reportedly claimed more than 240,000 lives up until now.
The United Nations says the militancy has displaced more than 7.2 million Syrians internally, and forced over four million others to take refuge in neighboring countries, including Jordan and Lebanon.
Israeli soldiers watch the flames on a mountain side in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on June 28, 2015, after it was hit by a rocket fired from the Syrian side
Israel's army targeted members of Islamic Jihad on Friday in the Syrian Golan Heights, a spokesperson said, in attacks which killed at least five people.
Syrian state television reported that five unarmed civilians were killed in the raids, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said the strikes killed two pro-regime militiamen travelling in a car.
An Israeli army spokesperson said the attacks targeted Islamic Jihad members, without specifying how many were killed.
It followed more than a dozen Israeli raids on Syrian army positions in the Golan Heights on Thursday, which killed at least one person, in response to cross-border rocket fire which Israel blamed on Islamic Jihad.
On Thursday, Islamic Jihad denied Israeli reports claiming that the group took responsibility for rocket fire from Syria into northern Israel. Islamic Jihad Spokesman Daoud Shibah told Ma'an: "We categorically deny that Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the rockets fired into the Galilee."
He added that such reports are "malignant" attempts to divert attention from Israeli crimes against prisoners and hunger striker Muhammad Allan.
Israel's army targeted members of Islamic Jihad on Friday in the Syrian Golan Heights, a spokesperson said, in attacks which killed at least five people.
Syrian state television reported that five unarmed civilians were killed in the raids, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said the strikes killed two pro-regime militiamen travelling in a car.
An Israeli army spokesperson said the attacks targeted Islamic Jihad members, without specifying how many were killed.
It followed more than a dozen Israeli raids on Syrian army positions in the Golan Heights on Thursday, which killed at least one person, in response to cross-border rocket fire which Israel blamed on Islamic Jihad.
On Thursday, Islamic Jihad denied Israeli reports claiming that the group took responsibility for rocket fire from Syria into northern Israel. Islamic Jihad Spokesman Daoud Shibah told Ma'an: "We categorically deny that Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the rockets fired into the Galilee."
He added that such reports are "malignant" attempts to divert attention from Israeli crimes against prisoners and hunger striker Muhammad Allan.
Israel launched artillery and air strikes against Syrian army positions in the Golan Heights on Thursday night in response to rocket fire, military sources said.
The army launched "five to six" strikes against Syrian positions, the sources said, after four rockets crashed in the Galilee region of northern Israel and in the occupied Golan, in attacks that did not cause any casualties.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group had earlier reported that the Israeli army had launched strikes on regime positions in the Syrian-held sector of the Golan and that Syrian troops were killed in the strikes.
The state-run Syrian news agency SANA for its part said an Israeli helicopter had fired rockets on Quneitra in the Syrian sector of the Golan Heights. The strikes hit two local government buildings but caused only material damage, it said.
Israel had warned the government in war-wracked Syria that it would "suffer the consequences" after Thursday's rocket attacks, which it said had been masterminded by a senior Iranian official. "This was the work of Islamic Jihad, an organisation financed and working for Iran, and we consider the Syrian government responsible for the firing and it will suffer the consequences," the army had said in a statement.
It was referring to a Palestinian political party which is based in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, in a statement, accused Iran of seeking to "open a new terrorist front against Israel on the Golan Heights".
Thursday's tit-for-tat strikes came as Muhammad Allan, a Palestinian detainee who Islamic Jihad says is one of its members, ended a two-month hunger strike over his detention without trial by the Israeli authorities.
The Islamic Jihad denied the military's accusation, saying it was not behind the rocket fire. "This is an attempt by the (Israeli) occupier to turn attention away from the crimes it is committing against the Palestinian prisoners, and in particular Muhammad Allan," a statement by the group said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yaalon visited northern Israel on Tuesday to meet military officials. Israel seized 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles) of the Golan from neighboring Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it 14 years later, in a move never recognized by the international community.
Since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011, the Golan has been tense, with a growing number of rockets and mortar rounds hitting the Israeli side, mostly stray, prompting occasional armed responses.
The army launched "five to six" strikes against Syrian positions, the sources said, after four rockets crashed in the Galilee region of northern Israel and in the occupied Golan, in attacks that did not cause any casualties.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group had earlier reported that the Israeli army had launched strikes on regime positions in the Syrian-held sector of the Golan and that Syrian troops were killed in the strikes.
The state-run Syrian news agency SANA for its part said an Israeli helicopter had fired rockets on Quneitra in the Syrian sector of the Golan Heights. The strikes hit two local government buildings but caused only material damage, it said.
Israel had warned the government in war-wracked Syria that it would "suffer the consequences" after Thursday's rocket attacks, which it said had been masterminded by a senior Iranian official. "This was the work of Islamic Jihad, an organisation financed and working for Iran, and we consider the Syrian government responsible for the firing and it will suffer the consequences," the army had said in a statement.
It was referring to a Palestinian political party which is based in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, in a statement, accused Iran of seeking to "open a new terrorist front against Israel on the Golan Heights".
Thursday's tit-for-tat strikes came as Muhammad Allan, a Palestinian detainee who Islamic Jihad says is one of its members, ended a two-month hunger strike over his detention without trial by the Israeli authorities.
The Islamic Jihad denied the military's accusation, saying it was not behind the rocket fire. "This is an attempt by the (Israeli) occupier to turn attention away from the crimes it is committing against the Palestinian prisoners, and in particular Muhammad Allan," a statement by the group said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yaalon visited northern Israel on Tuesday to meet military officials. Israel seized 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles) of the Golan from neighboring Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it 14 years later, in a move never recognized by the international community.
Since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011, the Golan has been tense, with a growing number of rockets and mortar rounds hitting the Israeli side, mostly stray, prompting occasional armed responses.
The Islamic Jihad Movement has categorically denied the Israeli claim that it was responsible for firing rockets from Syria at the occupied land of Galilee.
Spokesman for the Movement Dawoud Shihab described the Israeli claim in this regard as a barefaced attempt to divert attention from the issue of prisoner Mohamed Allan.
Shihab stressed that the weapon of Islamic Jihad is only used inside occupied Palestine, warning Israel of fabricating lies to justify intended attacks on the Movement and its leaders.
Israel's channel 10 quoted an Israeli military source as saying that the armed wing of Islamic Jihad had fired, at the behest of Iran, four rockets from Syria at the Israeli side of the upper Galilee.
Spokesman for the Movement Dawoud Shihab described the Israeli claim in this regard as a barefaced attempt to divert attention from the issue of prisoner Mohamed Allan.
Shihab stressed that the weapon of Islamic Jihad is only used inside occupied Palestine, warning Israel of fabricating lies to justify intended attacks on the Movement and its leaders.
Israel's channel 10 quoted an Israeli military source as saying that the armed wing of Islamic Jihad had fired, at the behest of Iran, four rockets from Syria at the Israeli side of the upper Galilee.
20 aug 2015
Tel Aviv’s warplanes have bombed an area in Syria’s southwestern province of Quneitra after the regime’s military claimed four rockets fired from the Syrian soil hit northern Israel.
The fresh airstrikes against Syria came after the Israeli military said in a statement earlier on Thursday that “four rockets were launched from the Syrian Golan Heights, landing in the Upper Galilee” mountainous area near the Lebanese border and the Israeli-occupied side of Golan.
“No injuries have been reported” due to incident, according to the statement.
The Israeli army also released a statement, saying, "This was the work of (Palestinian) Islamic Jihad...and we consider the Syrian government responsible for the firing and it will suffer the consequences."
Earlier in the day, Israeli media reports said two projectiles landed in an open area near a village in northern Galilee.
Sources said sirens also wailed in warning of the incoming rockets in the region.
Two of the rockets also landed near a kibbutz in the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights, Israeli media said.
Stray mortar rounds have hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on several occasions as foreign-backed militants conitinue their terror operations against the government in Syria.
The Israeli regime has taken advantage of the ongoing crisis in Syria by launching several artillery fire and airstrikes against the Arab country in recent years.
The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared up in March 2011, has reportedly claimed more than 240,000 lives up until now.
The Golan Heights has been under Israeli occupation since the 1960s. The regime captured Golan during the Six-Day War of 1967, when it also took control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The fresh airstrikes against Syria came after the Israeli military said in a statement earlier on Thursday that “four rockets were launched from the Syrian Golan Heights, landing in the Upper Galilee” mountainous area near the Lebanese border and the Israeli-occupied side of Golan.
“No injuries have been reported” due to incident, according to the statement.
The Israeli army also released a statement, saying, "This was the work of (Palestinian) Islamic Jihad...and we consider the Syrian government responsible for the firing and it will suffer the consequences."
Earlier in the day, Israeli media reports said two projectiles landed in an open area near a village in northern Galilee.
Sources said sirens also wailed in warning of the incoming rockets in the region.
Two of the rockets also landed near a kibbutz in the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights, Israeli media said.
Stray mortar rounds have hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on several occasions as foreign-backed militants conitinue their terror operations against the government in Syria.
The Israeli regime has taken advantage of the ongoing crisis in Syria by launching several artillery fire and airstrikes against the Arab country in recent years.
The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared up in March 2011, has reportedly claimed more than 240,000 lives up until now.
The Golan Heights has been under Israeli occupation since the 1960s. The regime captured Golan during the Six-Day War of 1967, when it also took control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
16 aug 2015
IDF troops exercise on the Israeli-Syrian border
Military assessments foresee possible infiltration of terrorists with heavy weapons, rebel takeover of Druze village; IDF posts video documenting elimination of four Druze who laid explosives on border fence last April.
The IDF has already prepared plans to attack Syria in light of a recent military assessment that Iran has opened a new front against Israel on the Golan Heights.
Military exercises in the area over the last two weeks have focused primarily on a scenario of offensive operations inside Syrian territory in response to possible action from the Syrian border such as the infiltration of dozens of terrorists armed with anti-tank weapons, machine guns, grenades and light weapons into one of the communities along the border.
The exercises included possible IDF responses to such infiltrations with troops firing at fixed points on the Syrian side of the border. Simultaneously, officials expect a barrage of mortar bombs to be fired at communities in the Golan Heights during such a scenario.
Commanders in the field put theoretical defensive plans into action using aircraft and combat helicopters alongside tank-fire, artillery guns and even hundreds of reserve fighters who participated in the exercise.
The Northern Command estimates that despite the relative quiet on the Golan Heights, strategists suggest it is quite possible an errant jihadist organization pushed into a corner by Assad's army, or by competing organizations, could try to carry out an attack in Israel in order to draw it over the border, into Syria's civil war.
In light of this concern, the main jihadist organization in the Syrian Golan, Nusra Front, who hitherto has not fired a single shot toward Israel, may try to do so in the future.
Hezbollah – not only in Lebanon
The Northern Command does not believe the escalation will necessarily occur in the near future, but hope to be a few steps ahead in accordance with Northern Command Chief Aviv Kochavi’s new outlook. According to his perception, Hezbollah command's focus over the past decade has become broader and concerns not only Lebanon but also Syria, with emphasis on the terrorist organizations operating there.
The Syrian army now controls only two enclaves in the Golan Heights: the Quneitra area which leads to Damascus, in the center-north of the Heights and the Druze village Hader at the foot of Mount Hermon.
The remaining border areas are in the control of rebel groups, primarily Nusra Front, whereas Hezbollah militants are not operating near the border fence as most of them have left the Golan Heights in recent months to reinforce their postions on the Syria-Lebanon border, but hundreds still remain deep in the Golan Heights.
Regarding Islamic State, they have begun to move their focus from north and eastern Syria to the south during the past few months. They are still far from the border fence and are 70 kilometers from Israel in the Druze mountains.
With respect to the Druze, The Northern Command has drawn up plans to deal with a situation in which rebels try to occupy the Druze village of Hader. Many of the 12,000 inhabitants have relatives in Israeli Druze villages. The plans include Israel assistance and messages regarding these plans have already been sent to the various rebel groups.
New video shows elimination of terrorists on Israeli-Syrian border
Meanwhile, the IDF released new footage Sunday, depicting the precision bombing that killed four Druze who tried to plant explosive devices along the boarder fence dividing Israel and Syria.
On April 26, 2015, a little after 9pm, IDF soldiers in their observation post identified the four individuals approaching the border fence, equipped with backpacks which later proved to contain four explosive devices. They quickly sent troops to the scene fired at them. A combination of firepower and intelligence led to an accurate attack and elimination of the individuals within minutes of certain identification.
The four terrorists, Syrian Druze from the village of Hader, were eliminated when they tried to deploy the devices at three locations along the border fence, near Majdal Shams. The area represents one of the Assad regime’s last two remaining enclaves in the Syrian Golan. According to the IDF, Hezbollah and Iran took advantage of this in order to draft four of the Assad supporters, suppling them with explosive projectiles and sending them to the Israeli border.
The goal was to deliver a serious blow to the IDF's ground forces patrolling in the area.
Military assessments foresee possible infiltration of terrorists with heavy weapons, rebel takeover of Druze village; IDF posts video documenting elimination of four Druze who laid explosives on border fence last April.
The IDF has already prepared plans to attack Syria in light of a recent military assessment that Iran has opened a new front against Israel on the Golan Heights.
Military exercises in the area over the last two weeks have focused primarily on a scenario of offensive operations inside Syrian territory in response to possible action from the Syrian border such as the infiltration of dozens of terrorists armed with anti-tank weapons, machine guns, grenades and light weapons into one of the communities along the border.
The exercises included possible IDF responses to such infiltrations with troops firing at fixed points on the Syrian side of the border. Simultaneously, officials expect a barrage of mortar bombs to be fired at communities in the Golan Heights during such a scenario.
Commanders in the field put theoretical defensive plans into action using aircraft and combat helicopters alongside tank-fire, artillery guns and even hundreds of reserve fighters who participated in the exercise.
The Northern Command estimates that despite the relative quiet on the Golan Heights, strategists suggest it is quite possible an errant jihadist organization pushed into a corner by Assad's army, or by competing organizations, could try to carry out an attack in Israel in order to draw it over the border, into Syria's civil war.
In light of this concern, the main jihadist organization in the Syrian Golan, Nusra Front, who hitherto has not fired a single shot toward Israel, may try to do so in the future.
Hezbollah – not only in Lebanon
The Northern Command does not believe the escalation will necessarily occur in the near future, but hope to be a few steps ahead in accordance with Northern Command Chief Aviv Kochavi’s new outlook. According to his perception, Hezbollah command's focus over the past decade has become broader and concerns not only Lebanon but also Syria, with emphasis on the terrorist organizations operating there.
The Syrian army now controls only two enclaves in the Golan Heights: the Quneitra area which leads to Damascus, in the center-north of the Heights and the Druze village Hader at the foot of Mount Hermon.
The remaining border areas are in the control of rebel groups, primarily Nusra Front, whereas Hezbollah militants are not operating near the border fence as most of them have left the Golan Heights in recent months to reinforce their postions on the Syria-Lebanon border, but hundreds still remain deep in the Golan Heights.
Regarding Islamic State, they have begun to move their focus from north and eastern Syria to the south during the past few months. They are still far from the border fence and are 70 kilometers from Israel in the Druze mountains.
With respect to the Druze, The Northern Command has drawn up plans to deal with a situation in which rebels try to occupy the Druze village of Hader. Many of the 12,000 inhabitants have relatives in Israeli Druze villages. The plans include Israel assistance and messages regarding these plans have already been sent to the various rebel groups.
New video shows elimination of terrorists on Israeli-Syrian border
Meanwhile, the IDF released new footage Sunday, depicting the precision bombing that killed four Druze who tried to plant explosive devices along the boarder fence dividing Israel and Syria.
On April 26, 2015, a little after 9pm, IDF soldiers in their observation post identified the four individuals approaching the border fence, equipped with backpacks which later proved to contain four explosive devices. They quickly sent troops to the scene fired at them. A combination of firepower and intelligence led to an accurate attack and elimination of the individuals within minutes of certain identification.
The four terrorists, Syrian Druze from the village of Hader, were eliminated when they tried to deploy the devices at three locations along the border fence, near Majdal Shams. The area represents one of the Assad regime’s last two remaining enclaves in the Syrian Golan. According to the IDF, Hezbollah and Iran took advantage of this in order to draft four of the Assad supporters, suppling them with explosive projectiles and sending them to the Israeli border.
The goal was to deliver a serious blow to the IDF's ground forces patrolling in the area.
29 july 2015
The three killed militants.
Lebanese media claims IAF attacked a vehicle on the outskirts of Quneitra in the Syrian Golan, killing three pro-Assad militants; PFLP claims Israeli drone attacked arms depot in Bekaa Valley.
Three pro-Assad militants were killed in Syria, and a weapons warehouse attacked in Lebanon, in two separate incidents on Wednesday, both of which were attributed to Israel by a Syrian army official.
"As part of its support of terror organizations, an Israeli aircraft attacked a civilian vehicle near the village of Hader at the outskirts of Quneitra at 10:45am. As a result, three civilians from the village were killed," the Syrian army source told Syria's state news agency, SANA.
"In addition, enemy planes attacked one of the bases of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on the border between Syria and Lebanon at 3:15pm. As a result, six militants were wounded in different levels of severity," he added.
Israel allegedly conducted an airstrike in the Syrian Golan Heights, killing three militants from the Popular Resistance Committees, a group loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to a report on Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen TV.
The Hezbollah-owned Al Manar channel claimed that an Israeli drone conducted the attack in the village of Hader, on the outskirts of Quneitra, killing two people.
A reporter from Al Mayadeen in Damascus said that the attack was done at around 11:30am at the southern entrance to the Druze village Hader, on the Israeli-Syrian border.
Syrian opposition officials in Quneitra said on social media that in addition to the three killed PRC militants, there were Hezbollah militants in the vehicle as well. According to AFP, a total of five people were killed in the attack.
Arab media claimed the three killed PRC militants are Mohanned Said Barakeh, Wassim Badreya and Nader al-Tawil.
The IDF refused to comment on the reports, but earlier reports in Lebanon also mentioned IAF sorties in the Bekaa Valley.
In a separate incident, the pro-Assad Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is led by Ahmed Jibril, claimed that an attack by an Israeli drone caused explosions in a weapons warehouse in the organization's camp in the Bekaa Valley.
The PFLP claims that six of its men were lightly wounded in the alleged attack in the al-Qusayr mountains range.
Hezbollah-affiliated media denied this was an Israeli attack.
The official Lebanese news agency reported that the explosions occurred as a result of spillover of two rockets from the fighting across the border in the Syrian city of Al-Zabadani between Assad forces and rebels. The Lebanese news agency also claimed that one PFLP militant was killed and six others were wounded, one of them seriously, while two vehicles were destroyed.
Several airstrikes have been attributed to Israel over the past few years, the last one in Syria in January killing Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Lebanese terrorist Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's commander in the Golan Heights until he was allegedly killed by Israel in Damascus in 2008.
Reports last April suggested that the IAF had attacked targets in Syria, but it later emerged that Syrian rebels were responsible for the attacks.
'Israeli drone strike kills 2 in Syria'
At least two members of the Syrian Armed Forces have been killed in an Israeli drone strike in a village in Syria’s strategic southwestern province of Quneitra, located on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, Lebanon's al-Manar TV says.
The official television station of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah said on Wednesday that "two members of Syria's National Defense Forces (a branch of Syrian Armed Forces) were killed when an Israeli drone targeted their car at the entrance of Hader, in Quneitra Province."
However, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said five people in total were killed in the airstrike.
The UK-based group said an Israeli plane had hit a car, killing two men from the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, and three men from pro-government popular committees in the Druze town.
The Israeli military has not yet commented on the attack.
Hader borders the line separating Syria’s side of the Golan Heights from the Israeli section, occupied since the war of 1967.
The Druze town has been witnessing clashes between militants and members of pro-Syrian government groups in recent weeks.
The attack in Syria on Wednesday is not the first to be carried out by Israel.
Back in January, an Israeli attack claimed the lives of six Hezbollah fighters near Quneitra.
The Tel Aviv regime has carried out at least five airstrikes against the region over the past year.
Along with Syrian forces, Hezbollah fighters are fighting ISIL and other foreign-backed militant groups, which have been operating in Syria against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since March 2011.
Lebanese media claims IAF attacked a vehicle on the outskirts of Quneitra in the Syrian Golan, killing three pro-Assad militants; PFLP claims Israeli drone attacked arms depot in Bekaa Valley.
Three pro-Assad militants were killed in Syria, and a weapons warehouse attacked in Lebanon, in two separate incidents on Wednesday, both of which were attributed to Israel by a Syrian army official.
"As part of its support of terror organizations, an Israeli aircraft attacked a civilian vehicle near the village of Hader at the outskirts of Quneitra at 10:45am. As a result, three civilians from the village were killed," the Syrian army source told Syria's state news agency, SANA.
"In addition, enemy planes attacked one of the bases of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on the border between Syria and Lebanon at 3:15pm. As a result, six militants were wounded in different levels of severity," he added.
Israel allegedly conducted an airstrike in the Syrian Golan Heights, killing three militants from the Popular Resistance Committees, a group loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, according to a report on Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen TV.
The Hezbollah-owned Al Manar channel claimed that an Israeli drone conducted the attack in the village of Hader, on the outskirts of Quneitra, killing two people.
A reporter from Al Mayadeen in Damascus said that the attack was done at around 11:30am at the southern entrance to the Druze village Hader, on the Israeli-Syrian border.
Syrian opposition officials in Quneitra said on social media that in addition to the three killed PRC militants, there were Hezbollah militants in the vehicle as well. According to AFP, a total of five people were killed in the attack.
Arab media claimed the three killed PRC militants are Mohanned Said Barakeh, Wassim Badreya and Nader al-Tawil.
The IDF refused to comment on the reports, but earlier reports in Lebanon also mentioned IAF sorties in the Bekaa Valley.
In a separate incident, the pro-Assad Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is led by Ahmed Jibril, claimed that an attack by an Israeli drone caused explosions in a weapons warehouse in the organization's camp in the Bekaa Valley.
The PFLP claims that six of its men were lightly wounded in the alleged attack in the al-Qusayr mountains range.
Hezbollah-affiliated media denied this was an Israeli attack.
The official Lebanese news agency reported that the explosions occurred as a result of spillover of two rockets from the fighting across the border in the Syrian city of Al-Zabadani between Assad forces and rebels. The Lebanese news agency also claimed that one PFLP militant was killed and six others were wounded, one of them seriously, while two vehicles were destroyed.
Several airstrikes have been attributed to Israel over the past few years, the last one in Syria in January killing Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Lebanese terrorist Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's commander in the Golan Heights until he was allegedly killed by Israel in Damascus in 2008.
Reports last April suggested that the IAF had attacked targets in Syria, but it later emerged that Syrian rebels were responsible for the attacks.
'Israeli drone strike kills 2 in Syria'
At least two members of the Syrian Armed Forces have been killed in an Israeli drone strike in a village in Syria’s strategic southwestern province of Quneitra, located on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, Lebanon's al-Manar TV says.
The official television station of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah said on Wednesday that "two members of Syria's National Defense Forces (a branch of Syrian Armed Forces) were killed when an Israeli drone targeted their car at the entrance of Hader, in Quneitra Province."
However, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said five people in total were killed in the airstrike.
The UK-based group said an Israeli plane had hit a car, killing two men from the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah, and three men from pro-government popular committees in the Druze town.
The Israeli military has not yet commented on the attack.
Hader borders the line separating Syria’s side of the Golan Heights from the Israeli section, occupied since the war of 1967.
The Druze town has been witnessing clashes between militants and members of pro-Syrian government groups in recent weeks.
The attack in Syria on Wednesday is not the first to be carried out by Israel.
Back in January, an Israeli attack claimed the lives of six Hezbollah fighters near Quneitra.
The Tel Aviv regime has carried out at least five airstrikes against the region over the past year.
Along with Syrian forces, Hezbollah fighters are fighting ISIL and other foreign-backed militant groups, which have been operating in Syria against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since March 2011.
16 july 2015
The leaked American intelligence document.
Security official Brig. Gen. Mahammed Sleiman was killed in 2008 by Israel's elite forces, according to US intelligence documents leaked by Edward Snowden.
Israel's naval commando unit Shayetet 13 is responsible for the 2008 murder of a top security aide of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to secret US intelligence files published on Wednesday.
Brigadier General Mohammed Sleiman was shot in the head and neck on August 1, 2008 by a small team of Israeli commandos as he enjoyed a dinner party at his luxury seaside home on the Syrian coast, said The Intercept website, citing the leaked files.
The Israeli military team then escaped by sea. "The internal National Security Agency document, provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, is the first official confirmation that the assassination of Sleiman was an Israeli military operation," said the website. The revelation "ends speculation that an internal dispute within the Syrian government led to his death," it added.
The NSA's internal version of Wikipedia, "Intellipedia," described the assassination near the port town of Tartus as the "first known instance of Israel targeting a legitimate government official," according to The Intercept. It cited three former US intelligence officers as saying that the document's classification markings indicated that the NSA learned of the assassination through surveillance.
In 2010, US diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks and published by the Guardian newspaper said that Syria suspected Israel of the murder. The killing of Sleiman was kept secret initially by Syrian authorities and the Israeli government denied involvement.
His assassination came 11 months after an Israeli air strike deep inside Syrian territory destroyed a shadowy facility that may have been one of the special projects that Sleiman managed.
Security official Brig. Gen. Mahammed Sleiman was killed in 2008 by Israel's elite forces, according to US intelligence documents leaked by Edward Snowden.
Israel's naval commando unit Shayetet 13 is responsible for the 2008 murder of a top security aide of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to secret US intelligence files published on Wednesday.
Brigadier General Mohammed Sleiman was shot in the head and neck on August 1, 2008 by a small team of Israeli commandos as he enjoyed a dinner party at his luxury seaside home on the Syrian coast, said The Intercept website, citing the leaked files.
The Israeli military team then escaped by sea. "The internal National Security Agency document, provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, is the first official confirmation that the assassination of Sleiman was an Israeli military operation," said the website. The revelation "ends speculation that an internal dispute within the Syrian government led to his death," it added.
The NSA's internal version of Wikipedia, "Intellipedia," described the assassination near the port town of Tartus as the "first known instance of Israel targeting a legitimate government official," according to The Intercept. It cited three former US intelligence officers as saying that the document's classification markings indicated that the NSA learned of the assassination through surveillance.
In 2010, US diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks and published by the Guardian newspaper said that Syria suspected Israel of the murder. The killing of Sleiman was kept secret initially by Syrian authorities and the Israeli government denied involvement.
His assassination came 11 months after an Israeli air strike deep inside Syrian territory destroyed a shadowy facility that may have been one of the special projects that Sleiman managed.
1 july 2015
Al-Nusra fighters - the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda that the US has targeted with airstrikes - have been among those receiving Israeli aid, espcially medical aid
Last month, the Syrian town of Hadar fell to opposition rebels; it was the last of the Druze towns along the Golan Heights ceasefire line still in government hands. Fears have grown for the safety of Hadar's residents, predominantly pro-regime, as the fighters who besieged the town reportedly include militants from Jabhat Al-Nusra; the group massacred 20 Druze in the Idlib province in early June.
Syrian Druze just across the border in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights share this concern. They are so close to Hadar that they can watch its destruction through binoculars. Many have taken to the streets to call on Israel and the international community to protect their Druze brethren. Their protests have not only drawn attention to their plight, but also the curious way that Israel is dealing with the situation just across the border.
There are four Syrian Druze villages remaining in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel occupied the area in 1967, before formally annexing it in 1981 in a move not recognised by the international community and not accepted by the local population. The majority refuse Israeli passports and identify themselves as Syrian.
At the start of the Syrian civil war, the country's Druze refused to take an active stance against the government and thousands have since died fighting in the Syrian army. In the occupied Golan, divisions have crept into the Syrian Druze communities between Assad supporters and his opponents. Yet, support for Assad remains strong within the community, and a few Golan Druze have even appeared beyond the border fence, fighting on the regime's side.
This position differs from that of Israel, which has been supporting the Syrian rebels tactically for some time. Since 2012, quarterly reports issued by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) – stationed on the ceasefire line separating the Syrian Golan from the Israeli-occupied Golan - have revealed frequent interactions between the Israeli army and fighters from armed groups in Syria. They have noted the movement of fighters - both wounded and healthy - as well as cargo and other equipment across the border, through liaison with the Israeli army.
The major concern of Syrian Druze in the occupied Golan is that Al-Nusra fighters - the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda that the US has targeted with airstrikes - have been among those receiving Israeli aid. Tensions culminated in residents from the Syrian Druze village of Majdal Shams ambushing an Israeli ambulance carrying two rebel fighters on 22 June. A crowd gathered demanding to know if the men in the ambulance were Al-Nusra fighters, before beating one to death and leaving the other seriously injured.
Despite Al-Nusra being a branch of a group which Israel would certainly not describe as an ally, such allegations are well founded. In August 2014, Al-Nusra captured Quneitra, a key crossing point between Syrian-controlled territory and the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights, which provided them with direct contact with the Israelis.
A Wall Street Journal article published in March of this year quoted an Israeli military official noting that the army was aware that most of the rebels in the area around the border fence were from Al-Nusra and that Israel treats wounded Syrians without question or a screening process to determine who belongs to which group. Until his arrest in February Sidqi Maqt, a Druze from Majdal Shams, spent three years documenting meetings between Israeli army personnel and Syrian opposition fighters, including Al-Nusra.
Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon acknowledged on Monday that Israel has been providing Syria rebels with aid, without mentioning Al-Nusra. Israeli officials have stuck to the line that they don't interfere in the Syrian conflict and have no contact with the rebels except to provide humanitarian assistance to wounded Syrians. Briefing reporters on Monday, Ya'alon said that, from the outset, Israel knew that there were rebels among those it was helping and "placed two conditions on this aid - that terrorist groups not approach the fence, and that the Druze not be touched."
The question of whether this support extends further remains unanswered. Bashar Al-Assad believes it does. In an interview with Foreign Affairs in January, he said: "Some in Syria joke: 'How can you say that Al-Qaeda doesn't have an air force? They have the Israeli air force'."
Israel has certainly used military means to play a hand in who controls the region along its borders. In January, for example, an Israeli helicopter attacked and killed a senior member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and at least six members of Hezbollah, including Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of slain Hezbollah military leader Imad Mughniyeh, in Quneitra.
The media reported that on 23 September last year, Israel downed a MiG-21 Syrian military aircraft over the occupied Golan Heights during the intensification of fighting between rebels led by Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Syrian army. An article in Al-Monitor by writer Khaled Atallah mentions this as evidence of Israel coordinating attacks in Syria with Al-Nusra. A general from the Syrian army told Atallah that during the battle, "Israel supported gunmen by providing them with cover under the pretext of 'shooting back', hindering any attempts by the Syrian air force to intervene."
Since seizing the border crossing in August, Al-Nusra Front has not created any problems for Israel. On the other hand, the Damascus regime, which controlled the area previously, is propped up by two of Israel's biggest enemies in Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iran. Ya'alon has stated repeatedly his belief that Iran is seeking to open a new front against Israel from the Syrian Golan Heights. Hezbollah has already targeted Israeli troops in the area with several small-scale roadside bomb and rocket attacks.
Even if assistance to Al-Nusra manages, at least temporarily, to secure a security belt for Israel in the Golan region, it seems to be fuelling unrest domestically and pits Tel Aviv against the likes of its main ally, the United States.
The attack on the ambulance in Majdal Shams is no doubt being taken seriously in Tel Aviv; it happened within territory under Israeli control, it involved citizens attacking a military ambulance and overpowering IDF soldiers, and a wounded person being treated by the army was murdered. But Israel knows that it must respond cautiously in order to prevent further spillover. It does not want to alienate the large Druze population in Israel proper where, unlike the Syrian Druze in the occupied Golan, most are Israeli citizens and include many serving Israeli soldiers and veterans. The conditions applied to aid for opposition fighters mentioned by Ya'alon; Israeli government promises to protect the Druze; and the recent IDF tour of the Golan for Druze leaders, are attempts to reassure the Druze population. But will they be enough?
Last month, the Syrian town of Hadar fell to opposition rebels; it was the last of the Druze towns along the Golan Heights ceasefire line still in government hands. Fears have grown for the safety of Hadar's residents, predominantly pro-regime, as the fighters who besieged the town reportedly include militants from Jabhat Al-Nusra; the group massacred 20 Druze in the Idlib province in early June.
Syrian Druze just across the border in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights share this concern. They are so close to Hadar that they can watch its destruction through binoculars. Many have taken to the streets to call on Israel and the international community to protect their Druze brethren. Their protests have not only drawn attention to their plight, but also the curious way that Israel is dealing with the situation just across the border.
There are four Syrian Druze villages remaining in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel occupied the area in 1967, before formally annexing it in 1981 in a move not recognised by the international community and not accepted by the local population. The majority refuse Israeli passports and identify themselves as Syrian.
At the start of the Syrian civil war, the country's Druze refused to take an active stance against the government and thousands have since died fighting in the Syrian army. In the occupied Golan, divisions have crept into the Syrian Druze communities between Assad supporters and his opponents. Yet, support for Assad remains strong within the community, and a few Golan Druze have even appeared beyond the border fence, fighting on the regime's side.
This position differs from that of Israel, which has been supporting the Syrian rebels tactically for some time. Since 2012, quarterly reports issued by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) – stationed on the ceasefire line separating the Syrian Golan from the Israeli-occupied Golan - have revealed frequent interactions between the Israeli army and fighters from armed groups in Syria. They have noted the movement of fighters - both wounded and healthy - as well as cargo and other equipment across the border, through liaison with the Israeli army.
The major concern of Syrian Druze in the occupied Golan is that Al-Nusra fighters - the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda that the US has targeted with airstrikes - have been among those receiving Israeli aid. Tensions culminated in residents from the Syrian Druze village of Majdal Shams ambushing an Israeli ambulance carrying two rebel fighters on 22 June. A crowd gathered demanding to know if the men in the ambulance were Al-Nusra fighters, before beating one to death and leaving the other seriously injured.
Despite Al-Nusra being a branch of a group which Israel would certainly not describe as an ally, such allegations are well founded. In August 2014, Al-Nusra captured Quneitra, a key crossing point between Syrian-controlled territory and the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights, which provided them with direct contact with the Israelis.
A Wall Street Journal article published in March of this year quoted an Israeli military official noting that the army was aware that most of the rebels in the area around the border fence were from Al-Nusra and that Israel treats wounded Syrians without question or a screening process to determine who belongs to which group. Until his arrest in February Sidqi Maqt, a Druze from Majdal Shams, spent three years documenting meetings between Israeli army personnel and Syrian opposition fighters, including Al-Nusra.
Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon acknowledged on Monday that Israel has been providing Syria rebels with aid, without mentioning Al-Nusra. Israeli officials have stuck to the line that they don't interfere in the Syrian conflict and have no contact with the rebels except to provide humanitarian assistance to wounded Syrians. Briefing reporters on Monday, Ya'alon said that, from the outset, Israel knew that there were rebels among those it was helping and "placed two conditions on this aid - that terrorist groups not approach the fence, and that the Druze not be touched."
The question of whether this support extends further remains unanswered. Bashar Al-Assad believes it does. In an interview with Foreign Affairs in January, he said: "Some in Syria joke: 'How can you say that Al-Qaeda doesn't have an air force? They have the Israeli air force'."
Israel has certainly used military means to play a hand in who controls the region along its borders. In January, for example, an Israeli helicopter attacked and killed a senior member of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and at least six members of Hezbollah, including Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of slain Hezbollah military leader Imad Mughniyeh, in Quneitra.
The media reported that on 23 September last year, Israel downed a MiG-21 Syrian military aircraft over the occupied Golan Heights during the intensification of fighting between rebels led by Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Syrian army. An article in Al-Monitor by writer Khaled Atallah mentions this as evidence of Israel coordinating attacks in Syria with Al-Nusra. A general from the Syrian army told Atallah that during the battle, "Israel supported gunmen by providing them with cover under the pretext of 'shooting back', hindering any attempts by the Syrian air force to intervene."
Since seizing the border crossing in August, Al-Nusra Front has not created any problems for Israel. On the other hand, the Damascus regime, which controlled the area previously, is propped up by two of Israel's biggest enemies in Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iran. Ya'alon has stated repeatedly his belief that Iran is seeking to open a new front against Israel from the Syrian Golan Heights. Hezbollah has already targeted Israeli troops in the area with several small-scale roadside bomb and rocket attacks.
Even if assistance to Al-Nusra manages, at least temporarily, to secure a security belt for Israel in the Golan region, it seems to be fuelling unrest domestically and pits Tel Aviv against the likes of its main ally, the United States.
The attack on the ambulance in Majdal Shams is no doubt being taken seriously in Tel Aviv; it happened within territory under Israeli control, it involved citizens attacking a military ambulance and overpowering IDF soldiers, and a wounded person being treated by the army was murdered. But Israel knows that it must respond cautiously in order to prevent further spillover. It does not want to alienate the large Druze population in Israel proper where, unlike the Syrian Druze in the occupied Golan, most are Israeli citizens and include many serving Israeli soldiers and veterans. The conditions applied to aid for opposition fighters mentioned by Ya'alon; Israeli government promises to protect the Druze; and the recent IDF tour of the Golan for Druze leaders, are attempts to reassure the Druze population. But will they be enough?
30 june 2015
Israeli Defence Minister, Moshe Ya'alon
Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon acknowledged on Monday that his government helps Syrian rebels fighting against the Assad regime on condition that they keep the Israel-Syria border secure. The protection of the Druze minority from immediate danger is also a condition for support, the Israeli media has reported. He made the disclosure to Israeli diplomatic correspondents in Tel Aviv.
"When someone wounded comes close to the border, you need to offer treatment for him," the minister was quoted by Al-Quds newspaper. He said that Israel sends messages through wounded Syrians that if they want Israeli assistance to continue, the rebels need to stick to its conditions.
According to Ya'alon, more than 1,000 Syrians have received medical assistance in Israeli hospitals since the start of the revolution in 2011. "Israel will continue to act with sensitivity regarding the Druze," Ya'alon said according to Times of Israel. "On the other hand, the rebels on the other side also feel that we're acting sensitively."
Last week, a crowd of Druze on the occupied Golan Heights attacked an Israeli ambulance carrying two Syrian rebels. One of them died and the other suffered critical injuries.
The Druze acted "irresponsibly" last week, said Ya'alon. "The person in the Israeli ambulance was not affiliated with Al-Nusra Front, and his death will provoke calls for revenge."
According to Israeli officials, around 110,000 Druze live in the north of Israel, with 20,000 on the occupied Golan Heights.
Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon acknowledged on Monday that his government helps Syrian rebels fighting against the Assad regime on condition that they keep the Israel-Syria border secure. The protection of the Druze minority from immediate danger is also a condition for support, the Israeli media has reported. He made the disclosure to Israeli diplomatic correspondents in Tel Aviv.
"When someone wounded comes close to the border, you need to offer treatment for him," the minister was quoted by Al-Quds newspaper. He said that Israel sends messages through wounded Syrians that if they want Israeli assistance to continue, the rebels need to stick to its conditions.
According to Ya'alon, more than 1,000 Syrians have received medical assistance in Israeli hospitals since the start of the revolution in 2011. "Israel will continue to act with sensitivity regarding the Druze," Ya'alon said according to Times of Israel. "On the other hand, the rebels on the other side also feel that we're acting sensitively."
Last week, a crowd of Druze on the occupied Golan Heights attacked an Israeli ambulance carrying two Syrian rebels. One of them died and the other suffered critical injuries.
The Druze acted "irresponsibly" last week, said Ya'alon. "The person in the Israeli ambulance was not affiliated with Al-Nusra Front, and his death will provoke calls for revenge."
According to Israeli officials, around 110,000 Druze live in the north of Israel, with 20,000 on the occupied Golan Heights.
29 june 2015
Druze protest to protect Syrian brether
Defense minister says Israel knew there were rebels among those it was helping, and conditioned its help on terrorist groups not approaching the fence, and the safety of the Druze.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said on Monday it had conditioned humanitarian aid to select Syrian rebel groups on its border - on them not harming the Druze minority in the country's civil war.
The Druze in Syria have long been loyal to President Bashar Assad, and their brethren in Israel and the Golan Heights; who have been lobbying the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to safeguard the community.
The government, however, has sought to keep out of the more than four-year-old insurgency against Assad, an old foe who, they fear; may be toppled by more hostile Islamist militants.
But in a rare spillover of Syria's sectarian conflict into the Golan, a Druze mob last week beat to death a civil war casualty who was being taken by ambulance to Israel, where hundreds of Syrian wounded have received treatment during the conflict.
Israel has said it has also sent food and water across the frontier.
Briefing reporters on Monday, Ya'alon said that, from the outset, Israel knew there were rebels among those it was helping and; "placed two conditions on this aid - that terrorist groups not approach the fence, and that the Druze not be touched".
He was referring to the southern Syrian Druze village of Hader on which rebels have encroached, setting off solidarity protests in the Golan where the Druze are an Arab minority with influence in the military and government.
Another Israeli defense official said that while Israel has not refused medical treatment to any Syrian approaching its lines; "later, when it became clear that they were rebels, we made sure that they understood we expected our conditions to be kept".
The official said he knew of no cases of Israel helping members of Nusra Front, an al Qaeda offshoot in Syria which has beset the Druze. Rather, the official said, Israel has engaged mainly with non-jihadist rebels like the Free Syrian Army.
The "terrorists" referred to by Ya'alon were radical Islamists that are bent on attacking Israel no less than on toppling Assad, the Israeli official told Reuters.
But he allowed that telling them apart from other armed factions "can be difficult".
Ya'alon said Israel's conditions were being upheld, but that the June 22 Druze attack on the ambulance that left one Syrian casualty dead and another seriously wounded may have backfired by "spurring calls for revenge against the Druze in Hader".
Defense minister says Israel knew there were rebels among those it was helping, and conditioned its help on terrorist groups not approaching the fence, and the safety of the Druze.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said on Monday it had conditioned humanitarian aid to select Syrian rebel groups on its border - on them not harming the Druze minority in the country's civil war.
The Druze in Syria have long been loyal to President Bashar Assad, and their brethren in Israel and the Golan Heights; who have been lobbying the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to safeguard the community.
The government, however, has sought to keep out of the more than four-year-old insurgency against Assad, an old foe who, they fear; may be toppled by more hostile Islamist militants.
But in a rare spillover of Syria's sectarian conflict into the Golan, a Druze mob last week beat to death a civil war casualty who was being taken by ambulance to Israel, where hundreds of Syrian wounded have received treatment during the conflict.
Israel has said it has also sent food and water across the frontier.
Briefing reporters on Monday, Ya'alon said that, from the outset, Israel knew there were rebels among those it was helping and; "placed two conditions on this aid - that terrorist groups not approach the fence, and that the Druze not be touched".
He was referring to the southern Syrian Druze village of Hader on which rebels have encroached, setting off solidarity protests in the Golan where the Druze are an Arab minority with influence in the military and government.
Another Israeli defense official said that while Israel has not refused medical treatment to any Syrian approaching its lines; "later, when it became clear that they were rebels, we made sure that they understood we expected our conditions to be kept".
The official said he knew of no cases of Israel helping members of Nusra Front, an al Qaeda offshoot in Syria which has beset the Druze. Rather, the official said, Israel has engaged mainly with non-jihadist rebels like the Free Syrian Army.
The "terrorists" referred to by Ya'alon were radical Islamists that are bent on attacking Israel no less than on toppling Assad, the Israeli official told Reuters.
But he allowed that telling them apart from other armed factions "can be difficult".
Ya'alon said Israel's conditions were being upheld, but that the June 22 Druze attack on the ambulance that left one Syrian casualty dead and another seriously wounded may have backfired by "spurring calls for revenge against the Druze in Hader".
