An Israeli helicopter gunship opened fire on Monday on a home near the border with the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, wounding one person, Syrian state TV reported.
SANA news said that Tahrir Mahmoud, reported to be a civilian, was taken to hospital for treatment following the attack on a house in Ain Eltinah, west of the town of Hader in the southern Quneitra region.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitoring group, said the targeted man works for Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group.
The incident occurred as Israel faces mounting tensions on the front with the Gaza Strip and riots in Jerusalem.
The attack came days after a similar alleged attack by an Israeli helicopter on Quneitra that did not inflict casualties, according to Syrian state media. And on May 5, Israel fired missiles toward northwestern Syria, killing one person and wounding six.
In April, a Syrian missile reached deep into Israeli territory and set off air raid sirens near the country’s top-secret nuclear reactor as a result of a misfire.
The missile landed in southern Israel on April 22, prompting Israel to respond with airstrikes on the missile launcher and other targets in Syria.
Israel has launched hundreds of strikes against Iran-linked military targets in Syria over the years according to foreign media but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.
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Iranian-backed militias in Syria waving the Hezbollah and Syrian flags
(Photo: Archive)
Israel views Iranian entrenchment on its northern frontier as a red line and has repeatedly struck Iran-linked facilities and weapons convoys destined for Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.
The IDF announced in March 2019 that it had exposed a clandestine Hezbollah unit that was operating in southern Syria in the area near the border with Israel, where the incident occurred.
The unit's objective is to establish another front against Israel from the Golan Heights, in addition to Hezbollah’s military presence in South Lebanon.