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.
