IDF strikes ISIS compound in Syria after militants’ 1st cross-border attack

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The IDF ordered an airstrike on Islamic State’s facility in the south of the Syrian Golan Heights after militants opened small arms and mortar fire on an Israeli patrol on Sunday. Local media said it was the first encounter between the two sides.

An IDF spokesman said that the Monday airstrike targeted “an abandoned military facility, which was previously used by the United Nations and served as a location for [Islamic State or IS, formerly] ISIS to consolidate their offensive forces and operations near the border,” according to the Jerusalem Post.

The military said the bombing came in retaliation to the IS-linked attack on Sunday and was aimed at preventing militants from returning to the compound which would pose “a substantial threat in the area.”

On Sunday, an IDF patrol came under small arms and mortar fire from across the border on Israeli part of the Golan Heights at around 8:30am local time, according to the Jerusalem Post. The gunmen were said to be from the IS-affiliated grouping called ‘Shuhada al-Yarmouk’.

None of the soldiers, all members of IDF’s elite Golani Brigade, was injured, the Israeli military said. In retaliation, the Israeli Air Force scrambled aircraft which spotted and then destroyed a car on the other side of the border, armed with a heavy machine gun.

“Israel will not let Islamic State or any other hostile organization use the chaos of the war in Syria to set up shop on Israel’s northern border,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

On Monday, Netanyahu said that Israel is paying close attention to the developments.

“We will not tolerate even isolated fire and we will respond forcefully and attack our enemies when necessary before they succeed in attacking us,” he said.

“We will not permit radical Islam or any other hostile entity to open a front of terror against us on the Golan,” the PM added, as cited by the Jerusalem Post.

The clash is the first of its kind between Israel and IS-linked militants located in Syria, Israeli media report. The fact that the terrorist group has not staged attacks against Israeli before has given birth to numerous speculations about alleged links between the two sides.

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