Report: Iron Dome deployed to northern Israel after alleged Syria strike
Foreign media reports move is in light of possible retaliation for purported Israeli strike that killed Hezbollah members, Iranian soldiers.
By YAAKOV LAPPIN, JPOST.COM STAFF, REUTERSIron dome(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
In the aftermath of an alleged Israeli strike Sunday on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, the IDF reportedly deployed a number of Iron Dome air defense batteries to the North on Monday evening, according to foreign media.Sky News Arabic reported that the anti-rocket batteries had been maneuvered in case of further escalation on the border with Syria and Lebanon.According to Hezbollah, which is active on the side of President Bashar Assad in the Syrian civil war, an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles Sunday at a military convoy in the Syrian town of Quneitra, not far from the Israeli border in the Golan Heights.Six Hezbollah operatives and six Iranian soldiers were reported killed in the hit.The killings raised the possibility of a retaliatory attack, with a senior Iranian official suggesting that Israel would be hit at "the right time and right place." An Israeli defense official told Reuters an escalation was possible.Israel has not confirmed that it carried out the strike, however Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that Israel would not give up its right to defend itself against all those who wish to propagate terror and other attacks against its citizens or its territory.Hezbollah officials vowed to avenge the attack on Monday, telling Lebanese paper A-Safir that retaliation was "inevitable," though they added that “we will not act out of emotion.”UN peacekeepers stationed in the Golan Heights along the Syrian-Israeli border observed drones coming from the Israeli side before and after the air strike, the United Nations said on Monday.The flight of the drones in the airspace over the Golan Heights was a violation of the 1974 cease-fire agreement between Syria and Israel, UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters.Haq was asked if the UN observer mission deployed in the so-called area of separation in the Golan Heights, known as UNDOF, had seen anything. He said UNDOF had "observed two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) flying from the Alpha side and crossing the ceasefire line."
The Alpha side refers to the Israeli part of the Golan. Haq said UNDOF saw the drones moving towards UN position 30, after which the UN observers lost track of them.An hour later, he said, they saw smoke coming from position 30, though they were unable to identify the source of the smoke.Israel's security cabinet was set to meet on Tuesday to discuss the latest developments on the northern border.Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
