Channel 2 TV reported that a landmine exploded on the Syrian side of the Israel-Syria border on Sunday.
Military officials said the incident, which took place near the Kunetra crossing, may have been an attempt by Hizbullah to drag Syria to the conflict withIsrael.
The circumstances of the incident remain unclear at this point; it is possible that an explosive device was attached to the mine and set it off. Security forces are also looking into the possibility that the mine exploded by accident. No injuries were reported among IDF soldiers.
IDF officials have been saying since the onset of the fighting in Lebanon that Hizbullah would try to get Syria involved in the conflict; such an attempt was made when the organization fired rockets toward the Golan Heights in the hope that Syria would be blamed for the attack.
A senior IDF officer said recently that Hizbullah may even go as far as intentionally firing at Syria to escalate regional tensions.
However, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz clearly sated that Israel has no intention of acting against Syria.
During a recent meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Peretz said “we have nothing to gain by opening another front in Syria. I am sending this same message to the Lebanese people and to Palestinian leaders; we are not at war with their nations – we are at war with the terror organizations.”
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