Israel fires warning shots at Syria over Golan Heights mortar strike

 

An Israeli Merkava tank crew sit on the Israeli annexed Golan Heights overlooking the Syrian village of Breqa on November, 06, 2012. (AFP Photo / Menahem Kahana)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/news/syria-israel-warning-fire-455/

Israel has fired warning shots into Syria after mortars launched from Syrian territory hit an Israeli base in the Golan Heights. It is the first time Israel has fired within Syrian territory since the 1973 war.

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) said the missile was fired as a warning short after the errant mortal fired from Syria hit the military post.

"In the midst of Syrian infighting, a mortar shell fired by the Syrian army struck near an outpost at Tel Hazeka," The Jerusalem post cites IDF spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai as saying.

"In light of the policy instituted by IDF Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz, a warning round was fired back into Syria. We don't believe it caused injuries or damages," he continued.

The IDF fired a single Tamuz anti-tank missile, a weapon known for its high degree of accuracy, military sources told AFP.

Just hours before the strike, Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Syria that Israel would “respond” if stray shells landed inside the Golan Heights.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had also said Israel was “closely monitoring what is happening on our border with Syria and there too we are ready for any development."

Israel worries the Syrian insurgency could engulf the Golan, turning the region into an ideal base for Islamic militants to launch attacks, as they do from Egypt’s Sinai desert.

Israeli officials fear the fall of President Bashar Assad’s government could further lead to an Islamist power grab in Syria, fueling sectarian war and destabilizing the region.

There are also concerns that the security breakdown in Syria might lead the Lebanese movement Hezbollah – which is allied to Damascus and staunchly opposed to Israel– to acquire control of chemical weapons stockpiles.

Several mortar shells have struck the Golan Heights since the Syrian civil war erupted 19 months ago. Israel has recognized the fire as unintentional, but still holds Damascus responsible.

On Thursday a mortar launched from within Syrian territory hit an Israeli settlement on the territory but did not explode.

 

Israeli Merkava tanks maneuver on the Israeli annexed Golan Heights overlooking the Syrian village of Breqa on November, 06, 2012. (AFP Photo / Menahem Kahana)

Israel recently filed a complaint with the United Nations Security Council after Syrian three tanks entered the demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights earlier this month. The IDF also filed a complaint with UN peacekeeping forces operating in the area.

The tanks were reportedly engaged in a battle with Syrian rebels in the village of Beer Ajam, which is located in the Syrian controlled portion of the Golan Heights.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 war, though they agreed to return the land to Syria in return for a peace agreement which was rejected by the Arab world.

During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Syrian forces crossed the ceasefire line into the Golan Heights to retake the territory. The Syrian troops were ultimately ejected by Israel forces.

Israel annexed the Golan in 1981, though they returned about five percent of the territory to Syrian control. The land was merged into a demilitarized zone that is currently patrolled by UN peacekeeping forces.

Syrian tanks in Golan Heights irk Israeli regime

 

Israeli soldiers stand on a tank near the Syrian border. (File photo)

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/11/04/270353/syrian-tanks-in-golan-irk-israel/

Three Syrian tanks have entered the demilitarized zone in Syria’s Israeli-occupied territory of Golan Heights, angering the Tel Aviv regime.

An Israeli military spokesperson said on Saturday that the regime “filed a complaint with the UN (peacekeeping) force in the area.”

The spokesperson did not provide further details about the mission of the Syrian tanks. However, Israeli media reported that the combat vehicles entered the Syrian village of Beer Ajam, near an Israeli military checkpoint, to confront the insurgents fighting against the Syrian government.

The report comes amid ongoing clashes between the Syrian army and the foreign-sponsored insurgents in Syria.

The Israeli regime seized the Syrian territory on the strategically important Golan Heights in the 1967 war. Tel Aviv annexed the territory on December 14, 1981 -- a move which has been met with international condemnation.

HRW slams Israel for Naksa Day deaths

Pro-Palestinian protesters take cover from Israeli forces shooting near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Sunday, June 5, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/184152.html

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the Israeli forces' killing of pro-Palestinian protesters in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Naksa Day, June 5, 2011.

The rights group said on its website on Friday that Israeli soldiers once again used unnecessary lethal force against protesters who posed no imminent threat to them.

Some witnesses have informed HRW that Israeli troops entered Quneitra and the Druze town of Majdal Shams in Syria from the occupied Golan Heights, and then began targeting protesters.

Many demonstrators were shot dead by live ammunition, before Israeli forces even began firing tear gas at them, eyewitnesses told the rights group.

Over 20 protesters were killed and some 325 others were injured in the Israeli attack, medics told the Associated Press.

"Israeli forces quickly resorted to live fire against protesters who entered the demilitarized area … The protesters never posed an imminent threat," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at HRW.

"Israeli troops' response to the protesters seems to be a perfect inversion of the legal requirement to use lethal force only as a last resort," she added.

The killing spree came on the 44th anniversary of the 'Naksa Day' marking Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the Six Day War of 1967.

In a similar incident only three weeks earlier, Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians who marched to the border areas with Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank to mark the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba Day (day of catastrophe).

At least 15 people were killed and dozens more wounded by Israeli troops on that day, May 15, 2011.

Protesters stage sit-in on Golan Heights

Pro-Palestinians protesters take cover from Israeli forces shooting near the village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Sunday, June 5, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183370.html

Thousands of Syrian and Palestinian protesters are staging an open-ended sit-in in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights after Israeli forces killed dozens along the Syrian border.

Israeli forces opened fire on Sunday as pro-Palestinian protesters from Syria approached the occupied territories, killing at least 23 people, including a woman and a child, and injuring 350 others, according to the Syrian TV.

The killing spree came after hundreds of protesters flocked to the Golan border to mark the 44th anniversary of the 'Naksa Day' marking Israel's seizure of their lands in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the Six Day War of 1967.

Meanwhile, the TV reports stated that thousands of people are heading to the Quneitra border area to take part in an open-ended sit-in on Syrian Golan Heights.

Israeli troops have been beefed up near Syria and Lebanon as well as in al-Quds. Thousands of Israeli security forces were also on high alert on 'Naksa Day' to counter possible unrest.

The events came exactly three weeks after tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and Syria, marked Nakba (catastrophe) Day on May 15.

On May 15, Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians who marched to the border areas with Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank.

Israel kills 20 as Syrians march on Golan

Israeli forces opened fire on pro-Palestinian protesters on Golan Heights border on Sunday, June 5, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183271.html

Israeli forces kill at least 20 people and injure nearly 325 others near Syria's Golan Heights, attacking the protesters, who were marking the anniversary of occupation of Arab lands by Tel Aviv.

Israeli forces have opened fire on protesters inside Syria as they were approaching the occupied territories on Sunday. According to the Syrian TV, a child is among those killed by the Israeli gunfire.

The demonstrators have announced that they plan to stage a sit-in along the border in protest at the Israeli occupation and atrocities.

The state-run television also said three of the wounded where in critical condition from Sunday's shooting.

The television showed footage of Israeli soldiers on top of a tank opening fire on the protesters. Israeli troops have been beefed up near Syria and Lebanon as well as in Jerusalem al-Quds.

The protesters flocked to Golan border on Naksa Day to mark the 44th anniversary of the beginning of Israel's 1967 Six-Day War against Arabs. Israel declared northern Golan a closed military zone.

Thousands of Israeli security forces were also on high alert on 'Naksa Day', fearing possible unrest.

Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli troops in the Qalandiya village near the city of Ramallah in central West Bank.Live footage broadcast on Syrian TV and Al-Jazeera also showed heavy gunfire along the Golan Heights border and protesters carrying wounded people away.

Israel captured the Golan from Syria in 1967, along with the Palestinian territories of West Bank, East al-Quds and Gaza Strip.

The events came exactly three weeks after tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and Syria, marked Nakba (catastrophe) Day on May 15.

In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military killed two protesters, including one Palestinian teenager, and injuring at least 65 others on the Nakba Day.

Also on May 15, one person was also killed and at least 150 hurt in the Qalandiya on the same day.

'Israel's land-grab threat to peace'

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=127193§ionid=351020202


The Organization of Islamic Conference says Israel's occupation of Syria's Golan Heights poses a threat to global security, report says.

The continued Israeli threats against Syria, meant to escalate regional tensions, are endangering global peace and security, Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted a draft resolution of the international body's Thursday summit as saying.

Participating foreign ministers at the OIC in Dushanbe wrote in the resolution, "The OIC Ministerial Council asserts that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction, and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and has no legitimate or judicial value, and constitutes a flagrant violation of the UN Charter and its related resolutions and rules of international law," SANA reported.

The OIC's ministerial convention also slammed Israel for failing to abide by a 1981 UN Security Council resolution in which Tel Aviv was required to refrain from its "continued alteration" of the judicial, demographic, and civil features of the occupied Syrian territories.

The OIC members reiterated Syria's right to restore full sovereignty of the occupied Golan Heights, calling on Israel to withdraw fully to the pre-June 4, 1967 borders.

The participants also called on all countries not to supply Israel with any military, economic, financial, technical or human assistance that might prolong the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights, the report added.

They also called on the international community to help step up pressure against Israel and urge Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories of 1967.

In addition, the OIC's 37th session threw its weight behind the Palestinian Cause, naming it as the central cause for the Islamic Nation.