Hezbollah ‘mouthpiece’: Golan incident will only fan flames
Roi Kais/Ynetnews
Published: 04.28.15/ Israel News
Hezbollah’s newspaper in Lebanon responds to IDF hit on terror cell that infiltrated Israel, attempted to place explosive on border with Syria. A newspaper with close ties to Hezbollah responded Tuesday to recent events in the north, in which a terror cell infiltrated Israel and attempted to place an explosive on the border with Syria in retribution for an alleged Israeli attack an arms shipment intended for the Lebanese terror group.
Sources in southern Syria, where Hezbollah is fighting alongside pro-regime forces, responded to the attempted attack by four terrorists who were killed by IDF troops before completing their mission. The Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper al-Ahbar cited the sources as saying: “The killing of our people by Israel will not stop the resistance, but will rather inflame it. Although Israel thwarted this action, the scope of our activities is growing.”
In addition, the magazine’s editor wrote in another piece that Israel has no information about the organization’s next steps – an issue he said will lead Israel to make mistakes that will give Hezbollah the upper hand. Four terrorists were killed by IDF troops Sunday evening as they were trying to place a bomb along Israel’s border with Syria. The incident came after reports in Arab media said Israel launched an attack in Syria late Friday night, hitting a convoy of long-range missile intended for Shiite terror group Hezbollah.
An IDF patrol identified four figures approaching the border near Mt. Dov in the Golan Heights at around 9:30 pm and alerted IAF planes to the scene. The air force then took out the terrorist with at least three confirmed killed in the attack.The incident took place in Israeli territory, in an abandoned IDF base located outside the fence acting’s as the buffer zone between Israel and Lebanon. . “A short while ago, the IDF eliminated a terror cell attempting to place an explosive device against IDF forces on Israel’s border with Syria. The IDF will not accept any attempt to attack or infringe Israel’s sovereignty,” the IDF said in statement
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the event, saying “any attempt to harm our soldiers will be met with a firm response, like the one led by the IDF tonight who stopped an attempted terror attack. I praise the IDF alertness which responded quickly and accurately.”
The area in which the attack took place was scene to a previous incident in March 2014 in which the IDF shot two Hezbollah fighters who tried to plant a bomb on the border fence between the Israeli side of the Golan Heights and the Syrian-held territory. The incident took place after another alleged Israeli attack in along the Lebanese-Syrian border.
The alleged Israeli strike was reported in Al-Arabiya, which claimed the target was a cache of Syrian Scuds. The Saudi-owned network further claimed that Israel had also struck the area on Wednesday. Al Jazeera reported on Saturday morning that Israeli warplanes bombed positions belonging to the Syrian army and Hezbollah in the al-Qalamoun region near the border between Syria and Lebanon, with reports claiming the attack occurred in two waves and left a number of casualties.
**Yoav Zitun contributed to this report