IDF to probe infiltration of Fatah gunman from Syria
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters
A Fatah militant who infiltrated into the Golan Heights from Syria was captured Friday morning after a shootout with Israel Defense Forces troops, security sources said.In a rare flare-up in the normally quiet Golan, a gunman penetrated the border fence and opened fired on the IDF's Tel Hezka outpost, northeast of Katzrin.
The commander of the IDF's Golan division, Colonel Nizar Faras, said the infiltration incident was particularly serious as the gunman successfully crossed two border fences and entered the IDF outpost before being detected by soldiers.
IDF sources identified the attacker as a 21-year-old militant from Fatah, and said the man, who was wearing shirt emblazed with the Palestinian flag, told investigators he had planned to abduct an IDF soldier and take him back to Syria.The gunman, who came from a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, penetrated the border fence and fired nine rounds into an IDF post in an attempt to explode a petrol container, officials said. IDF soldiers fired at him twice before taking him into custody for questioning, the sources said.
No casualties were reported in the incident.
According to the IDF spokesman, "The responsibility for the incident lies with Syria and it must act to prevent similar incidents in the future."
The last incident between IDF soldiers and Syrians on the Golan Heights occurred in January 2003, when a Syrian soldier was shot dead by IDF troops after opening fire on them on the southern Golan Heights border. Another Syrian soldier was arrested by IDF troops in the incident. At the time, the army was of the opinion that the soldiers was not linked to a terrorist organization, but were sent to gather information on IDF troop activities in the region.
The 2003 incident was the first on the Israel-Syria border in over a decade. The previous incident was in 1991, when three people - most likely members of Syrian military intelligence - infiltrated near Mount Hermon and fired an anti-tank rocket at an outpost in the area, which killed IDF reservist Ehud Ben-Mordechai. Syria usually refrains from infiltrations from its territory, while encouraging infiltrations by Palestinian groups and Hezbollah from Lebanon and Jordan into Israel.