Mines thrown into Golan Heights
Ten anti-personnel mines tossed over security fence into Israeli side of border; area from which mines were thrown considered Israeli territory. Identity of perpetrators remains unclear. Military calls incident unusual, Israel says it will file complaint with UN
Ten anti-personnel mines were thrown by Syrians into Israel on Saturday afternoon. The mines were identified by a routine military patrol and sappers were alerted to the scene to neutralize the explosives. The army insists the Syrian government is responsible for its border, even if the incident was a local initiative.
IDF sources said on Saturday night that the mines in question were ones Israel had planted east of the security fence, but inside Israeli territory. In this region, as along Israel's northern border with Lebanon, there is a small gap between the international border and the Israeli fence demarcating the border, leaving several meters of Israeli territory as a buffer zone.
The army said that the mines had been extricated and hurled west of the fence further into Israel. Six of the mines landed on the dirt route used by military patrols.
The mines were found north of the Golan River in the south of the Golan Heights. An IDF force patrolled the same area on Saturday morning and did not note the presence of the mines, which were only found by the afternoon patrol. The army initially investigated the possibility that the mines had been dislodged by the current, but the evidence points otherwise and it was conclusively determined that the mines had been thrown on the ground in the afternoon.
The mines were not camouflaged in any way and so it is apparent that the perpetrators were in a hurry to dispose of them and flee the scene.
Israel will file UN complaint
The mines were found in an area frequented by IDF forces on patrol, the army has yet to determine what possible damage the dislodged mines would have inflicted on troops.
"The Syrians must prevent these types of incidents that may lead to far graver consequences," said military sources in response to the event, which they say will be investigated thoroughly. Israel also intends to file a complaint with the United Nations.
During the lrecent war in Lebanon Israel boosted the presence its forces along its northeastern border; fearing the Syrians might chose to open an additional front against Israel. After the war ended the IDF continued to maintain a larger-than-normal scale of troops in the Golan Heights, officially lowering the alert level to its pre-war status some three months after fighting in Lebanon had ended.
However, the situation on the Syrian border remains on the agenda in security briefings, mostly due to the dismal results of the last war and the arming of Syrian troops with advanced Russian weapons.
Group claiming hold on Hever likely to be suspect
While the army is still investigating who is behind the incident, one of the possibilities it is likely to consider is involvement on the part of the Resistance Committees for the Liberation of the Golan Heights. A Syrian source told Ynet that the resistance group was founded with the aim of launching "a guerilla war"
in the Golan, with Syrian gunmen planning to infiltrate Israel to perpetrate attacks.
Syria drew its conclusions from last summer’s war in Lebanon, and it was likely the group would operate parallel to the Hizbullah terror organization.
The organization has recently announced that it is holding missing IDF soldier Guy Hever, who disappeared in the Golan on August 17th 1997.
