—  SPECIAL SECURITY REPORT  —

Israel Air Force strikes follow unprovoked cross-border missile attack which killed Israeli 14 yr-old & wounded 3 others on Sunday morning.

The Israel Air Force struck several Syrian military targets on Monday night, in response to Sunday’s cross-border missile shooting which killed an Israeli boy and wounded his father and two other civilians.

F-15I Ra’am Israel Air Force – Photo: IDF Spokespersons Unit

The strikes were carried out shortly after midnight. Nine targets belonging to the Syrian military were hit, among them command centers, according to a statement released by the IDF Spokesman.

An IDF officer told Haaretz the strikes were carried out using both Tamuz guided missiles and IDF jets.

The IDF Spokesman called the strikes a direct response to ongoing cross-border aggression which culminated in Sunday’s deadly missile attack.

“The shooting [on Sunday] was a very serious act of provocation, and a continuation of a series of attacks carried out over the past several months against IDF forces throughout the border region, and in this area specifically,” a statement read.

“The IDF will act decisively in any way and at any time it sees fit, in order to protect the citizens of Israel,” the IDF spokesman said.

Tanks respond to missile attack

On Sunday, Israeli tanks fired at positions held by Syrian government forces, after a 14-year-old Israeli boy was killed and three others were wounded when an anti-tank projectile fired from within Syria struck near the border fence on the Golan Heights.

The Syria-Israel border. June 22, 2014. – Photo: Gil Eliyahu

Muhammad Fahmi Krakara was sitting in a truck with his father, who was doing maintenance work on the fence for the Defense Ministry along with two other contract workers. One employee suffered serious injuries, the father was moderately wounded and the third employee was lightly injured.

On Sunday, an Israel Defense Forces officer said it was not known whether Syrian government forces or rebels fired the anti-tank missile, though the segment of the border fence where it landed is under rebel control.

The slain boy’s father and the seriously injured employee were evacuated to Rebecca Sieff Hospital in Safed, and the worker with light wounds was taken to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.

View original HAARETZ publication at: http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.600486