Israeli Force Penetrates Syrian Territory to Thwart ‘Bombing Operation’

Israeli soldiers at a military post in the Golan Heights (AFP)
Israeli soldiers at a military post in the Golan Heights (AFP)
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Israeli Force Penetrates Syrian Territory to Thwart ‘Bombing Operation’

Israeli soldiers at a military post in the Golan Heights (AFP)
Israeli soldiers at a military post in the Golan Heights (AFP)

Tel Aviv announced on Monday that Israeli troops had entered Syrian territory in the Golan Heights to pursue a group of four male Syrians it accuses of planning an armed attack against its patrols.

In the operation, one of the Syrian suspects was seriously injured and was flown by a helicopter to receive treatment at an Israeli hospital near Tiberias. The other three perpetrators, however, managed to escape deeper into Syrian territory.

According to the Israeli account, four Syrian men approached the border in the heart of the occupied Golan and threw unknown objects towards a dirt route on which the Israeli army patrols.

It later turned out that the objects hurled on the road included a mine that did not explode.

An Israeli military force affiliated with the 402nd Artillery Brigade penetrated the border and opened live fire at the suspects as they fled the scene.

Israeli troops fired at the suspects without first confirming if they were armed or not.

According to a report made by the hospital treating the shot suspect, the wounded perpetrator was in a “serious and unstable” condition.

Moreover, the report revealed that the suspect was transferred to the operating room to undergo surgery.

The Israeli operation into Syrian territory is not the first of its kind. Israeli forces on the occupied side of the Golan heights have previously come under fire from the liberated Syrian territory in the Golan.

For their part, Israeli forces are known for firing at anyone who approaches the border.

In September 2018, the Israeli army announced that its soldiers had fired at a group of Syrian gunmen near the border wall in the Golan. The justification for the firing was that the Syrians came too close to Israeli soldiers.



UN Human Rights Office Says Israeli Plan for Settlement Near East Jerusalem Breaks Int'l Law

 A general view shows the E1 area, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, between the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim and the occupied West Bank town of Eizariya Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP)
A general view shows the E1 area, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, between the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim and the occupied West Bank town of Eizariya Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP)
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UN Human Rights Office Says Israeli Plan for Settlement Near East Jerusalem Breaks Int'l Law

 A general view shows the E1 area, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, between the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim and the occupied West Bank town of Eizariya Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP)
A general view shows the E1 area, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, between the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim and the occupied West Bank town of Eizariya Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025. (AP)

The UN human rights office said on Friday an Israeli plan to build to build thousands of new homes between an Israeli settlement in the West Bank and near East Jerusalem was illegal under international law, and would put nearby Palestinians at risk of forced eviction, which it described as a war crime. 

Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday vowed to press on a long-delayed settlement project, saying the move would "bury" the idea of a Palestinian state. 

The UN rights office spokesperson said the plan would break the West Bank into isolated enclaves and that it was "a war crime for an occupying power to transfer its own civilian population into the territory it occupies". 

About 700,000 Israeli settlers live among 2.7 million Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1980, a move not recognised by most countries, but has not formally extended sovereignty over the West Bank. 

Most world powers say settlement expansion erodes the viability of a two-state solution by breaking up territory the Palestinians seek as part of a future independent state. 

The two-state plan envisages a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, existing side by side with Israel, which captured all three territories in the 1967 Middle East war. 

Israel cites historical and biblical ties to the area and says the settlements provide strategic depth and security and that the West Bank is "disputed" not "occupied".