JERUSALEM — An Israeli tank scored “direct hits” yesterday on a Syrian army vehicle after a mortar shell landed on Israeli-held territory, the military said, in the first direct confrontation between the countries since the Syrian uprising broke out.
Israel has tried to avoid getting sucked into the bloody Syrian conflict, but has grown worried as mortar shells landed in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights in recent days.
Israeli military officials say they believe the mortar fire is only spillover from fighting between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s army and rebels, but are exploring whether the cross-border fire is intentional.
“We will not allow our borders to be violated or our citizens to be fired upon,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday in a speech.
The civil war also shook Turkey yesterday after a Syrian jet bombed a rebel-held area near the border three times, killing more than a dozen in the town of Ras al-Ayn, a Turkish official said. Nearly 70 people were brought into Turkey for treatment, and eight more died there.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara had formally protested the bombings, state-run TRT TV reported.
In yesterday’s Israeli strike, the military said its tanks targeted the “source of fire” in Syria after the mortar shell landed in Tel Hazeka, an open area of the Golan Heights.
Israeli military officials said an army vehicle carrying “Syrian mobile artillery” was hit. There was no immediate word on Syrian casualties.
A number of shells have landed in the Golan over the past week. Israel responded for the first time on Sunday, firing a “warning shot” into Syria.