Report: Pro-Assad militia base targeted in alleged Israel airstrike
By ANNA AHRONHEIMUpdated: APRIL 24, 2017 05:05The Lockheed Martin F35 fighter jet plane, also known as the Adir, in a test flight(photo credit: LOCKHEED MARTIN AERONAUTICS/ LIZ LUTZ)
The IDF struck a base belonging to a pro-Syrian militia near Quneitra early Sunday morning, Al Jazeera reported.In a statement released by the National Defense Forces, a pro-regime militia, the alleged strike targeted the Naba Fawar base, killing three fighters and wounding two others.The unconfirmed air strike comes after the IDF confirmed that it struck several positions in Syria in response to projectiles that struck the northern Golan Heights on Friday. It is likely that the fire was not intentional, the army said, but rather spillover from the fighting between Hezbollah and regime troops against rebel groups near Ain Ayshaa, Samadiniyah Sharkiya and Madinat al-Ba’ath, near Quneitra.Netanyahu: Israel welcomes US airstrikes in Syria (credit: GPO)Syria’s official news agency, SANA, said Israel struck a regime military position in the surroundings of Khan Arnabeh in the Quneitra countryside, “causing material damage.”The border with Syria has been tense since the civil war there erupted in 2011, and while Israel rarely publicly admits to carrying out strikes, which are mostly limited to convoys of advanced weaponry destined for Hezbollah, it is suspected of carrying out occasional retaliatory strikes after rockets or mortar rounds hit Israeli territory.With various heavily armed radical groups battling President Bashar Assad, Syria is Israel’s most unpredictable and unstable neighbor and poses one of the largest risks for a sudden escalation.