ISISISIS militants apologized to Israel after exchange of fire: Former Israel defense minister
Last November, ISIS-affiliated fighters apologized” to Israel after attacking Israeli soldiers on the Golan Heights. Israel’s former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon referred to an incident in which Islamist militants affiliated with ISIS exchanged fire with Israeli soldiers on patrol along the Israel-Syria border.
Last November, ISIS-affiliated fighters apologized” to Israel after attacking Israeli soldiers on the Golan Heights.
Israel’s former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon referred to an incident in which Islamist militants affiliated with ISIS exchanged fire with Israeli soldiers on patrol along the Israel-Syria border.
Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War.
“There was one case recently where Daesh [ISIS] opened fire and apologized,” Times of Israel reports Ya’alon to have said at a political event in the northern town of Afula.
Ya’alon, a former chief of staff, resigned in May 2016 from his post as defense minister and from the Knesset. He is planning to form his own political party to run in the next election.
During the interview in Afula, Ya’alon said that after a short gun battle, the Israeli military attacked Syrian jihadist group Khalid ibn al-Walid with airstrikes and tank fire, killing four of them.
The exchange of fire was the first direct clash between ISIS or one of its affiliates and the Israeli military. Israel has built a sophisticated fence along its border with Syria, and Israeli military patrols constantly monitor the border.
The Islamist militants opened fire on one of these patrols.
The Khalid ibn al-Walid group affiliated itself with ISIS in May 2016. In February 2017, the group, in a surprise attack on Syrian moderate Syrian rebels, managed to seize territory along the Syria-Israel border.
Ya’alon and his spokesman declined to offer any detail on how ISIS conveyed its apology to Israel after the attack.
The Independent reports that Western journalists who gained access to ISIS senior officers in Syria, were told by the militants that Israel is the only power in the region which ISIS fears. Moreover, Israel’s main security focus in recent years has been on Hezbollah and the aid Iran and the Assad regime extend to the Shi’a militia. ISIS has no interest in having Israel change its focus.
