Israel Defense Force ELIMINATES 7 Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists near border in Syria who were en route to jihad attack

An IDF aircraft on Wednesday night fired towards several armed ISIS terrorists in the southern Syrian Golan Heights, killing seven of them.

Following searches conducted Thursday morning, explosive belts and five AK-47 assault rifles were found in the area.

“The IDF is on high alert and is prepared for a variety of scenarios. The IDF will continue to operate to ensure the security of the citizens of Israel,” the army stated after the dramatic event.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said that the IDF tracked the armed persons approaching the border and that a military aircraft struck as they attempted to cross a security fence on the Israeli side.

IDF Spokesman Ronen Manelis said the terrorists were Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists in Syria. They were struck in an overnight Israeli airstrike less than 200 meters from the Israeli border.

According to Manelis, there was no imminent threat to Israeli communities along the northern border. He did not indicate whether the jihadists intended to attack IDF targets nearby.

Israel continues to be on the front line in the global jihad.

IDF: Airstrike kills 7 IS gunmen who crossed from Syria into Israeli territory

Army says attackers were 650 feet past ceasefire line but had not crossed main Golan Heights border fence; military later retrieves explosive belts, Kalashnikov rifle at scene

By Jacob Magid and AFP, August 2, 2018:

The IDF said it conducted an airstrike late Wednesday night killing seven Islamic State fighters who had crossed the 1974 ceasefire line into Israeli territory.

The gunmen had made it some 200 meters (650 feet) past the “alpha line” but did not manage to reach the technical fence bordering the Israeli Golan Heights, IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus said, correcting an earlier army statement that said the “terror squad” had been in the Syrian Golan Heights when targeted.

A number of explosive belts and a Kalashnikov rifle were found during searches of the area Thursday morning, according to the army.

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The gunmen had crossed into the Israeli territory through the Syria-Jordan-Israel border triangle.

The Kalashnikov rifle retrieved by Israel following an air strike against gunmen in the Syrian Golan Heights. (IDF)

According to Army Radio, the gunmen were en route to an attack on Israel.

The army later released a short clip showing the IS gunmen heading toward Israel and Israeli soldiers crossing into no-man’s land to search for them.

Meanwhile, Jordan also said Thursday that it killed a number of Islamic State jihadists who tried to approach its northern border with Syria.

That incident occurred on Tuesday, as clashes raged between Syrian regime forces and “a gang of Daesh (IS) terrorists” in the Yarmouk Basin region of southwestern Syria, a Jordanian army statement said.

IS jihadists “tried to approach our border” but Jordanian troops prevented them by pounding them “with all types of weapons” and “killing a number of them,” it added, without specifying how many.

The operation to secure the area continued into Wednesday, the statement said.
No threat to communities

The IDF’s Conricus said that there had been no threat to Israeli communities along the northern border, but he did not say whether the IS gunmen were intending to attack Israeli military targets.

The Russia’s Interfax news agency reported Thursday that Russian military police would be deploying along the border between Syria and Israel to prevent further escalation between the sides.

The air raid took place as the IDF was completing a large-scale drill of war scenarios testing the preparedness of the Northern Command and the General Staff.

While touring the drill, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said that the gains by Assad’s forces in the Syrian civil war presented advantages for Israel even though the two countries remain technically at war.

“In Syria, as far as we are concerned, the situation is returning to the previous one before the civil war, meaning there is a clear address, there is responsibility and there is a central government,” Liberman told journalists while visiting Israeli air defenses.

Before the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, the ceasefire line between Syria and Israel was largely quiet for years.

During the conflict, there has been occasional spillover fire to which Israel has responded.

Assad told his troops on Wednesday they were close to victory after inflicting a succession of defeats on rebels.

A series of blistering offensives backed by Moscow and Tehran has forced the rebels out of many of their strongholds, putting Assad’s government back in control of nearly two-thirds of the country.