Israel Helicopter Hits Syrian Border Town in Rare Daytime Attack

Helicopter bombed house in rare daytime attack

Last week, Israel attacked Syrian territory at least three separate times. The Israeli government declined all comment. They’ll have a harder time maintaining ambiguity Monday, after a broad daylight attack by Israeli military helicopters on a Syrian border town.

The Israeli helicopter crossed into the Syrian Golan Heights and bombed a house in the town of Khader, wounding one person. Opposition figures claimed the wounded man worked for Hezbollah, which likely is just another way of saying he was a Shi’ite.

Israel’s policy is to not comment on attacks reported in foreign press, but this is easier to avoid when it is under the cover of night. With near daily attacks lately, the daytime strike, and close-up photos of an Israeli helicopter, seemingly step up the seriousness even further.

Officially, Israel tends to claim they’re not “attacking Syria” but are attacking Iran, but in practice this means attacking Shi’ite minorities wherever they find them. While they do kill a lot of foreign Shi’ites in Syria, they’ve also hit Syrian military targets and Syrian factories, which underscores that Syria is very much involved in being attacked.

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.