by News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Terrorist cell eliminated just 200 meters from Syria-Israel border fence • Israeli troops recover explosive belts, assault rifle nearby
An Israeli
airstrike on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights border has eliminated
seven terrorists, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said Thursday.
According to available information, Israeli
Air Force aircraft were scrambled to target the cell after its members
were spotted approaching the security fence. Israeli troops later found
several explosive belts and an AK-47 assault rifle near the border.
According to Manelis, the terrorists were identified as members of the Islamic State terrorist organization and were hit a mere "200 meters from the border fence."
Manelis stressed that "at no point was there any threat to any [Israeli] soldiers or communities. We had them at a far enough distance from the border that they posed no threat to the troops, and certainly not to communities.
"The IDF remains on high alert and is ready to defend the Israeli public."
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights, a U.K.-based war monitoring group, said early Thursday that
clashes were continuing between the Syrian army and Islamic State
militants in that area.
There was no immediate Syrian government response to the Israeli statements.
Commenting on the recent developments in Syria, where Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces are now again in control of the area near the Israeli border, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Syria's return to its pre-civil war situation was "a given."
Lieberman also predicted that the Golan Heights frontier would be calmer with Assad's rule restored.
Before the Syrian civil war began in 2011
and throughout the seven years of fighting, Israel and Syria have
mostly been careful to observe the 1974 cease-fire agreement between
them.
The conflict has seen several small flare-ups between the two enemy states, but both have sought to contain tensions.
"From our perspective, the situation is
returning to how it was before the civil war, meaning there is
someone in charge, a central ruler," Lieberman told reporters.
Asked whether Israelis should be less wary of potential flare-ups on the Golan, he said, "I believe so."
But he then qualified that with, "We remain
ready and willing and we will prove our abilities at the moment of
truth. We will not compromise when it comes to our security
interests."
Israel has been adamant about preventing
Assad's ally, Iran, from entrenching itself militarily in Syria.
Russia, the superpower that sided with Assad in 2015, effectively
ensuring his survival, has presented Israel with guarantees that Iranian-backed forces will remain 85 kilometers (53 miles) from the border.
Israel insists this measure still falls
short and demands the removal of all the Iranian-backed forces from
Syria, something Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has called
"unrealistic."
Lieberman stressed Thursday that "Syrian
soil cannot be used as an Iranian front against Israel and Syria
cannot be used as a conduit for weapons smuggling to Hezbollah."
He reiterated his assessment that, with
Assad firmly back in power, the Golan Heights border will once again
be calm, saying, "He [Assad] knows what will happen otherwise. It's
in his interest [to keep the border calm] and he will have to make his
own considerations."
Commenting on the tensions on the
Israel-Gaza Strip border, Lieberman said that Hamas has been using
children to send incendiary balloons over the border into Israel, and
its operative have been using civilian homes and venues as cover for
the terrorist cells.
The Palestinian arson campaign has been
wreaking havoc on Israeli border towns for three months and has
caused millions of dollars in damage.
Residents of Israeli communities near the
Gaza border, as well as several cabinet ministers, have demanded that
the government handle kite terrorist cells with the same lethal force
it does rocket launching cells. But top defense officials have been
wary of such a move, saying that directly targeting kite and balloon
cells, which mostly comprise teenagers and children, would lead the
already volatile situation on the border to spiral out of control.
"We have to targets those [Hamas leaders] who give the flaming balloons cells their orders, not the pawns," Lieberman said.
Also on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu canceled a trip to Colombia planned for next week due to the
situation around the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu had been scheduled to visit the
Latin American country from Aug. 6-9 to attend the inauguration
ceremony of President-elect Ivan Duque Marquez.
Numerous Latin American states are expected
to attend the Aug. 7 ceremony in Bogota. Netanyahu was expected to
hold a series of meetings with the leaders of Guatemala, Honduras,
Argentina and Chile, among others, in an effort to bolster Israel's
standing in the region.
News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/08/02/israeli-airstrike-kills-isis-terrorists-on-syrian-border/
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