Occupied Jerusalem: Two projectiles fired from Syria hit Israeli-occupied Mount Hermon on Wednesday morning without causing damage or injuries, an Israeli army spokeswoman told AFP.
“There were two explosions on the Israeli side of the Hermon, we are examining the incident,” she said. “We believe this was a result of the domestic situation in Syria.”
The popular site on the Israeli-occupied Golan was initially closed for visitors, but it reopened later in the day, the spokeswoman said, adding that Israel had informed the United Nations force in the region about the incident.
The Golan Heights have been tense since the beginning of the conflict in Syria more than two years ago.
However, there have been only minor flare-ups in the region to date, with Syrian shells crashing in the occupied Golan and Israel firing in retaliation.
Last week, there were three incidents of gunfire coming from Syria and straying across the ceasefire line.
Tensions have been particularly high after Israel carried out air strikes near Damascus on May 3 and 5, angering Syria which said it would “respond immediately” to any new Israeli raids inside its territory.
Israel’s arch-foe Hezbollah said last week Syria would supply it with “game-changing weapons” despite the air strikes, which senior Israeli officials said targeted weapons bound for the Lebanese Shiite movement.
“You Israelis say your objective is to stop the capability of the resistance [against Israel] from growing... but Syria will provide [Hezbollah] with game-changing weapons it has not had before,” its chief Hassan Nasrallah said.
The movement, a long-sworn enemy of Israel, fought a bitter war against Israel in 2006 in which parts of Lebanon were devastated.
Syria’s response to the Israeli strikes, Nasrallah said, is “highly strategic” and involves “opening to resistance fighters the front in the Golan” Heights.
Israel, which is technically at war with Syria, seized 1,200sqkm of the strategic Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War, which it later annexed in a move never recognised by the international community.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Russian President Vladimir Putin in a bid to prevent Moscow from delivering advanced S-300 missiles to Damascus.
