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Teen Killed by Syrian Forces in Golan Heights

Israel retaliates with airstrikes on nine military targets in Syria

by
Stephanie Butnick
June 23, 2014
Israeli soldiers are seen on their Merkava tank positioned near the Quneitra checkpoint on the border with Syria in the Golan Heights on June 22, 2014, after an Israeli teen was killed in an attack from Syria. (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)
Israeli soldiers are seen on their Merkava tank positioned near the Quneitra checkpoint on the border with Syria in the Golan Heights on June 22, 2014, after an Israeli teen was killed in an attack from Syria. (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)

A 13-year-old Arab-Israeli teen traveling by car through the Golan Heights was killed and his father, an Israeli defense contractor, was wounded in an attack from across the Syrian border, Reuters reports. The Sunday attack, which the Israeli army said could have been an explosive device, rocket, or mortar fire, resulted in the first Israeli casualty since the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011.

Israeli forces retaliated with airstrikes targeting Syrian military targets, the AP reports.

In all, Israel said it struck nine military targets inside Syria, and “direct hits were confirmed.” The targets were located near the site of Sunday’s violence in the Golan Heights and included a regional military command center and unspecified “launching positions.” There was no immediate response from Syria.

This is the latest in a series of incidents to erupt between the two countries in the Golan Heights area in recent months. In March, Israel struck three military targets in Syria after a bomb from Syria injured four IDF soldiers.

According to the New York Times, Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner called the latest attack from Syria “an unprovoked act of aggression against Israel, and a direct continuation to recent attacks that occurred in the area.”

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.