The Golan Heights is an approximately 390-square-mile rocky region in southwestern Syria and northeastern Israel. Israel seized and occupied it in the closing stages of the Six-Day War in 1967, forcing most of the Syrian Arab inhabitants of the region to flee. Israel unilaterally annexed the region in 1981.
Almost immediately after occupying the region, Israel began to move settlers into the Golan Heights. Today, there are more than 30 Israeli settlements in the region home to an estimated 20,000 settlers who live alongside some 20,000 Syrian Arabs who did not flee when the Heights was conquered. (Related: Netanyahu promises to turn Gaza into "rubble" following Hamas attack – they will pay "unprecedented price.")
Syria has never recognized Israeli control over the Golan Heights and has always insisted that a lasting peace between Damascus and Jerusalem can't be reached unless Israel withdraws from the whole of the Golan Heights.
The IDF claimed that "a number of launches" of mortars were launched toward the Israeli side of the Golan Heights coming from Syria. Reports said the mortars fell in an open area and that nobody was hurt and no structures were damaged.
The IDF reported that it responded "with artillery and mortar shells" aimed at the origin of the initial mortar strikes in Syria. It is unknown if the counterbattery fire caused any damage or killed any militants.
Residents in the southern part of the Golan Heights where the Syrian mortars struck were instructed to stay close to bomb shelters. Israeli air-raid sirens give residents approximately 15 seconds to seek shelter from possible militant armaments.
Syria claims it was not responsible for mortar launches
Meanwhile, Syrian officials claimed they were not responsible for the initial mortar strikes into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and that they were conducted by Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia group designated by several nations as a terrorist organization.
Hezbollah has not taken responsibility for the mortar strikes into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Other sources are suggesting that a Palestinian faction operating in southern Syria may have fired the mortars.
The potential involvement of Hezbollah in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas and other Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip raises fears that other parts of Israel could be subjected to the violence of a wider war.
Hezbollah has already admitted to firing armaments like rockets and anti-tank missiles across the border with Israel from southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah is primarily headquartered.
"The IDF is prepared for all scenarios in all arenas, and will continue to operate in order to protect Israeli civilians," said the IDF in a statement.
Learn more about the escalating conflict with Israel and its neighbors at WWIII.news.
Watch this Oct. 10 episode of "Brighteon Broadcast News" as Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, warns about Israel potentially committing genocide against the more than two million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip.
This video is from the Health Ranger Report channel on Brighteon.com.
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