Syrian Rebels Seize Israel Border Crossing

Israeli Army Attacks Syrian Military Positions as Nusra Advances

Syrian rebel factions, including al-Qaeda’s Jabhat al-Nusra, seized the nation’s only border crossing into neighboring Israel, in the Golan Heights. The takeover puts al-Qaeda directly on the Israeli frontier.

The clashes ahead of the takeover saw a stray mortar shell entering into Israeli occupied Golan, lightly wounding an Israeli soldier. Israel responded by attacking multiple Syrian Army positions in the area.

Israeli Army spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner downplayed the situation, insist it is “not a conflict that we are involved in.” Even though Israel has been keen to undermine Assad in the war, it’s hard to see how having al-Qaeda on their border is a preferred situation.

Israel has had a comparatively small number of troops in the Golan frontier because of the Gaza War, but as the ceasefire holds Israel is said to be redeploying some of those troops back to the north.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.