(JTA) — Israeli jets bombed Syrian targets after a roadside device wounded four Israeli soldiers in the Golan Heights.
The device exploded Tuesday evening near the town of Majdal Shams wounding four troops – one seriously – patrolling the border after lookouts detected suspicious activity.
Israeli artillery immediately fired back into Syria and hours later, before dawn Wednesday, Israeli combat aircraft hit military targets inside Syria.
The targets enabled in the attack, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
Israel Radio quoted Al Arrabiya, a Saudi-owned news service, as saying the attack was a bid to kidnap Israeli soldiers.
Such attacks are the hallmark of Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militia, but are usually attempted on the border with Lebanon.
Hezbollah last month vowed retaliation after Israel hit a weapons convoy moving arms from Syria to Hezbollah bases in Lebanon.
The border with Syria has remained largely quiet since 1974 as part of a Syria-Israel truce that has persisted even during the past three years of civil war that has rocked Syria.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.
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