JERUSALEM, (Reuters) – Israeli soldiers fired artillery into Syria in response to gunfire aimed at its troops in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, a military spokeswoman said on Sunday.
There were no reported injuries on the Israeli side from the shootings, which occurred on Saturday, the third case this month of violence seen as a spillover of civil unrest in Syria that has also alarmed other neighbours such as Lebanon and Turkey.
“Gunshots from Syria were fired at Israeli forces in the central Golan. Israel responded with artillery fire,” striking at those who initiated the shooting, the spokeswoman said.
The Israeli military also lodged a complaint with the United Nations on the incident. The U.N. has a peace-keeper force in the area monitoring a ceasefire in place since the 1970s.
Israel captured the Golan area in a 1967 war and later annexed it in a move never recognised internationally.