Israeli-Syrian Skirmish in the Golan Heights // FAI ONLINE

Video footage of a fire near Majdal Shams in the Israeli Golan Heights caused by Syrian air defense batteries (via @manniefabian on Twitter)

The Israeli military is on alert along its northern frontiers with Lebanon and Syria today, after a cross-border incident damaged civilian property in the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli Golan Heights. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.

Syrian air defense systems were triggered in the southwest Syrian province of Quneitra on Shabbat evening for unconfirmed reasons. The shells fired by Syrian batteries landed on the Syrian side of the security fence which demarcates Israel from Syria. The resulting impact caused a shrapnel burst which damaged a vehicle and building adjacent to the fence on the Israeli side, in the neighborhood of Givat Htisaacott. IDF troops sealed off the area around Majdal Shams, shortly before an Israeli attack helicopter retaliated with missile fire at Syrian air defense batteries, outposts and “intelligence gathering means” in Syria’s Quneitra province.

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IDF command huddled late into the night, bracing for a potential counterstrike by the Hezbollah terrorist group in Lebanon, which is allied with the Syrian regime. Roadblocks were set up in the Northern Galilee and the Golan along roads leading to Lebanon, and airspace was closed 6 kilometers from the border. Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah were already high after a Hezbollah operative was killed in an Israeli airstrike near the Syrian capital of Damascus earlier this week. Hezbollah’s presence on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights is well-documented, where it has used civilian infrastructure in the demilitarized zone as staging ground for attacks against the Jewish State in the past.

We ask the global FAI family to join us in intercessory prayer today regarding the strikes. FAI/IAI field teams are working amongst both Jewish and Druze communities in the immediate area of the strikes. Many of our friends and partners are directly affected by the developing situation. We pray that both the Syrian regime and Hezbollah would be restrained from escalating the situation any further, and that divine wisdom would be granted to Israeli authorities as they grapple with an ever-evolving and complex set of threats along their northern front. We pray for a shield of divine protection around our dear friends in Majdal Shams today, as well as their Druze countrymen just across the border in Syria.

Maranatha.