Israel attacks Syria – Israel attacks Syrian army in yet another stark violation of international law.
Rising tensions
Over the past few days, tensions between Israel and Syria have risen to unprecedented levels. Both countries have also exchanged threats against one another.
This Saturday, Israel and Syria blamed each other after the former attacked Syrian artillery. It claimed that it was responding to Syrian rocket fires in the Golan Heights.
These threats and cross border raids are not new. Israel has intensified its air raids, cross border rocket fires and even assassinations after a civil war broke out in Syria in 2011. Syria has never retaliated directly to these provocations.
The types of attacks
Israel carried out sporadic attacks on the Syrian army. Apparently, they happen when stray fire hits Israeli territory or the occupied Golan Heights.
Israel maintain that even if there is stray fire, it is the responsibility of the Syrian government. It usually retaliates by targeting government forces inside Syria.
Last week, Israeli prime minister stated that:
We will attack anyone who attacks us. We won’t accept spillover. If they attack us, we return fire. And it doesn’t take much time.”
Keeping Quiet
Israeli usually keeps quiet after conducting attacks in Syria. However, around half a dozen such attacks have been reported in Syria.
Technically, the two states are at war since 1948 after Palestinians were forcibly evacuated from their ancestral lands culminating in a war between Israel and Arab countries.
The Syrian Golan Heights were captured by Israel in 1967. The territory is still occupied by Israel.
In 1974, Israel and Syria signed a disengagement agreement. This resulted in a relative quiet across the border region. But when the civil war started in Syria, a new wave of violence started in the same region.
Civil War and Israeli attacks
The nature of the civil war in Syria is very important in understanding the current wave of increasing violence between the two countries.
It started as a legitimate uprising against the ruling Assad clan but later, it transformed into a war between the opposition and the government trying to grab as much land as they could.
During the first phase of the war, the opposition succeeded in gaining the upper hand, however, after the intervention of Iran, Hezbollah and Russia, the tide turned in the favor of Bashar Al Assad.
Despite this occasional violence, there is very little possibility of an all-out war erupting between the two countries.
