Attacks Escalate on Israel's Syrian, Lebanese Borders

Israeli military forces stopped two terrorists planting explosives on the Israel-Syria border in the northern Golan Heights early Wednesday morning, according to the Israel Defense Forces Spokesman’s office, cited by The Jerusalem Post. 

A group of suspicious figures approached the border fence in the middle of the night, and attempted to blow up the barrier.

Israeli soldiers shot at the suspects, and identified direct hits.

The militants were affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi’ite terror group, according to the IDF.

Israel has been on heightened alert for a possible Hezbollah attack since the terror group said last Wednesday that it had been hit by Israeli planes near the Syrian border earlier in the week.

All indications point to an Israeli operation to wipe out a shipment of sophisticated missiles to Hezbollah, though Jerusalem has not confirmed involvement in the reported strike.

Lebanon’s Daily Star reported that two trucks transferring missiles and a missile launcher were targeted by Israeli Air Force jets in a raid near the border with Syria, in the Bekaa Valley, as they were being transported from Syria to a Hezbollah storage facility in Lebanon.

The targeted missiles were reportedly able to carry warheads heavier and more dangerous than almost all of Hezbollah’s current massive arsenal.

Hezbollah has promised to retaliate against Israel for the air strike “at the appropriate time, place and means.”

Hezbollah is believed to be responsible for firing two Katyusha rockets that struck the Israel’s Golan Heights on Saturday. The rockets hit open areas in northern Israel.  According to Lebanese sources, the attack aimed to hit an IDF Golan outpost on Mt. Hermon.

Israelis in communities near the Lebanese border were instructed to be on alert for a Hezbollah attack, and farmers near Israel’s northern border were instructed to steer clear of the border fence.

Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has warned key military personnel of the possibility of war with Israel, according to Lebanese sources.

Assuming Israel is responsible for last week’s attack on the weapons shipment, Israel would seem to have stepped up attempts to stop weapons smuggling to Hezbollah by now striking one the terror group’s positions inside Lebanon for the first time in eight years. 

Previous strikes took place on Syrian territory, before the Hezbollah-bound weapons crossed into Lebanon.

Israel fears that despite repeated Israeli airstrikes on suspected arms shipments, Hezbollah has managed to obtain many sophisticated, game-changing weapons through Syria, including Russian-made anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles, intended for use against Israel.