An Israeli soldier holds a tank shell near Alonei Habashan on the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, close to the cease-fire line between Israel and Syria, June 22, 2014.
Israel Bombs Syrian Sites in Golan After Teen Death
JERUSALEM —
Israel has taken military action in Syria after a deadly cross-border attack.
Israeli warplanes attacked nine military targets inside Syria, including a command center and infantry positions. Israel said it was retaliation for an attack Sunday on the disputed Golan Heights, in which a 13-year-old Israeli boy was killed by an anti-tank missile fired from Syria.
Two others, including the boy's father, an Israeli defense contractor, were injured when a blast hit their vehicle.
Golan Heights
It was the first Israeli fatality on the border since the Syrian civil war erupted more than three years ago.
It is unclear whether Syrian rebels or government forces were behind the incident.
Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said the message of the air strikes is clear.
He said Israel is not intervening in the Syrian civil war, but there are red lines that must not be crossed.
Speaking on Israel Radio, Steinitz said the Jewish state will defend its citizens. He said Israel took a tough, but measured response to warn Syria that cross-border attacks will not be tolerated.
Israel has mostly stayed out of the Syrian conflict; but it carried out several air strikes last year targeting sophisticated weapons allegedly heading from Syria to the Islamic guerrilla group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Syrian regime, which has been bogged down in its own struggle for survival, did not retaliate for those Israeli attacks. But every time the Israeli Air Force takes action inside Syria, it raises fears that the civil war there could escalate into a broader regional conflict.
