Israel attacks Syrian position after stray mortar lands

Jerusalem (Reuters) -- Israel said it attacked a Syrian military position on Wednesday as a response to a stray mortar shell landing in the Golan Heights. The fighting in Syria's civil war has been spilling over into the Jewish State so call it tit-for-tat.

There were no injuries as the Syrian shell landed in an open area. In response, the Israeli army "targeted the Syrian military position that fired the mortar."

Israel's return strike was in the village of Samadanieh al Sharqiyah in Quneitra province. This is close to the area where rebels engaged the Syrian army in heavy fighting for the last week.

The mortar fell while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting Katzrin, another Golan Heights town about 12.5 miles from the area that was hit with most of the recent stray fire from Syria.

"While I was speaking, I said here that we will not tolerate errant shooting and we will respond to all firing. During my speech, there was errant fire from the Syrian side that landed in our territory and the army has already attacked," Netanyahu said. "Whoever attacks us, we attack them. This is our policy and we will continue to implement it."

Because if Israel didn't implement it, there would be a lot more "stray" projectiles falling on them "by accident."

Over the past few days, there has been an increase in such "stray" fighting in Syria spilling over into the Golan Heights. Israel has responded in kind each time.

As is internationally understood about the spoils of war, Israel captured the Golan in the 1967 Middle East war and therefore the Golan belongs to Israel.



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