Israel says it hits the posts of the Syrian army after the drone's incursion

BEIRUT / JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel on Thursday attacked Syrian army positions near the Golan Heights border, where pro-government forces fighting insurgents in the south of the country marched toward the border . But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, informing Israeli journalists during a visit to Moscow, reported that Israel would not act against President Bashar al-Assad in his efforts to regain control in Syria while working to make sure the Iranian forces support him. country.

"We have never had a problem with the Assad regime.For forty years (after the 1973 war in the Middle East), no bullet was fired on the heights of the Golan, "said a journalist from the Israeli daily Haaretz citing Netanyahu.

"The heart of the matter is to preserve our freedom of action against anyone who acts against us, and the withdrawal of Iranians from Syrian territory," said Netanyahu, the day after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin .

The Israeli army said it hit three targets in retaliation for the incursion of a Syrian drone that it shot down on its airspace a few hours earlier.

"The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) holds the Syrian regime responsible for the actions on its territory and warns it against further action against Israeli forces," the statement said.

Israel broadcast black-and-white surveillance images of missiles hitting what appeared to be a hut, a two-storey structure and a five-storey structure on hilly terrain.

Syrian media reported that the missiles were targeting positions around the village of Hader in the southern province of Quneitra, near the occupied Golan Heights.

"The Israeli enemy aircraft fired several missiles at some of the army's positions," a military source quoted a military source as saying. The air defenses thwarted the attack, which caused only material damage, he added.

Israel is alarmed by the Iranian influence in Syria during the seven-year civil war, hitting targets that it describes as Iranian deployments or convoys of Hezbollah, a Lebanese movement backed by Tehran.

Israel is on alert as Syrian government forces advance on the rebels near the Golan Heights, which Israel took to Syria during the Middle East war in 1967. Israel fears that Assad does not let his Iranian allies entrench themselves there or Syrian forces defy the demilitarization of the Golan from 1974.

With the help of the powerful Russian air force, Syrian government forces seized entire swathes from the province of Deraa south of the insurgents in the last three weeks. The offensive should turn next to rebel Quneitra, closer to the Golan Heights.

The pro-Damascus daily al-Watan said on Thursday that the army had sent in reinforcements to launch a "vast military operation" and bring the entire province under the tutelage of the state.

The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights stated that rebel factions had clashed with government forces overnight in Quneitra.

Earlier this week, the official media reported that air defenses struck an Israeli fighter and shot missiles at the T4 airbase in Homs province. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied having gone on strike.