Israeli warplanes bomb Syrian regime in Golan Heights

Published September 8th, 2016 - 12:00 GMT
Israel has sought to avoid being drawn into Syria's complex war which is now in its sixth year, but it has attacked Syrian military targets when fire from the conflict spills over. (AFP/File)
Israel has sought to avoid being drawn into Syria's complex war which is now in its sixth year, but it has attacked Syrian military targets when fire from the conflict spills over. (AFP/File)

Israeli war planes have bombed Syrian army positions in Syria’s Golan Heights for the second time in less than a week.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the attack was carried out against Syrian army mortar launchers in the early hours of Thursday morning shortly after a stray mortar shell hit an area in the Israeli-occupied side of the Golan Heights.

No casualties were reported as a result of the shelling.

On Sunday, Tel Aviv released a statement claiming that it had struck Syrian "cannons" during an airstrike in Syria’s Golan Heights after "mortar fire" hit an unpopulated area.  

Israel has targeted the region several times in recent years.

On August 22, Israeli jets carried out an airstrike in the area, again claiming that the attack was in retaliation for stray fire from Syrian fighting factions that landed inside Israel.

Syria says Israel and its Western and regional allies are aiding militant groups operating inside the Arab country. 

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria after the 1967 Six-Day War and later occupied it in a move that has never been recognized by the international community.

The regime has built tens of illegal settlements in the area ever since and has used the region to carry out a number of military operations against the Syrian government.

Editor's note: This article has been edited from the source material

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