SyriaSyrian army attacks Israeli army patrol; Israel retaliates, issues stark warning

Syrian forces have fired at an Israeli army patrol Tuesday, and for the first time since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, the Syrian government publicly took responsibility for the firing. In response, Israel launched a cruise missile and destroyed the Syrian position from which the Syrian soldiers fired into Israel.

Analysts say the President Bashar Assad’s regime may have tried to project toughness in response to three Israeli airstrikes near Damascus in recent months.

Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, accused the Syrian leader of encouraging and directing operations against Israel. Fox News reports that Gantz said the Israeli patrol was targeted several times Tuesday by a “clearly marked Syrian position.”

In his speech, he suggested that there was a possibility that hostilities could erupt between Israel and Syria. “We will not allow the Golan Heights to become a comfortable space for Assad to operate from,” Gantz told a conference at the University of Haifa. “If he escalates (the situation on) the Golan Heights, he will have to bear the consequences.”

Gantz said the situation is extremely combustible, and “a day doesn’t go by” where there could be a “sudden uncontrollable deterioration.” He warned, “Instability will be the only stable thing that will happen here.”

On three occasions – 30 January, 4 May, and 6 May – Israel attacked targets inside Syria, destroying large quantities of sophisticated arms which Iran and Syria were in the process of shipping to Hezbollah.

The airstrikes signaled an escalation of Israel’s involvement on the periphery of the Syrian civil war.

After the third attack, Syria said it would retaliate, and Assad said Syria is “capable of facing Israel” and would not accept violations of its sovereignty. Observers say that firing at an Israeli military target, like the incident Tuesday, is in line with the tougher rhetoric that followed the airstrikes.

Moshe Maoz, a Hebrew University expert on Syria, downplayed the immediate dangers of escalation, describing Tuesday’s events as “mostly rhetoric,” saying neither Syria nor Israel has an interest in sparking a region-wide war.

He said that Israel’s powerful military is capable of toppling Assad, while an outbreak of hostilities could bring Syria’s two allies, Iran and Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon, into even a deeper involvement in Syria.

“At this stage, neither side wants it, not Israel and not Syria,” Maoz said. “It’s rhetorical escalation, not strategic escalation. It’s more talk. Each side is flexing its muscles.”