Israeli soldiers stationed in the Syrian part of the Golan Heights were fired upon on Friday, the army said.
“The troops operating at the scene responded by firing shots toward the area from which the shots were identified,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement, without giving further details.
No injuries were reported in the incident, and the soldiers continued with their military activity, the statement continued.
“The IDF is deployed in the area and will continue to operate to protect and eliminate threats against the State of Israel and its citizens,” it read.
Following the collapse of the Bashar Assad regime in December at the hands of a Sunni jihadist uprising, Israel took control of part of the Syrian side of the Golan Heights in commanding terrain along the border, in what was described a temporary protective measure against hostile elements.
During a visit to the Syrian side of Mount Hermon on Tuesday, Defense Minister Israel Katz said, “The IDF will remain at the summit of the Hermon and the security zone indefinitely to ensure the security of the communities of the Golan Heights and the north, and all the residents of Israel.”
He spoke during a tour of an army post at the Mount Hermon summit where he conducted a security assessment with senior officers and spoke with IDF personnel.
Katz emphasized Israel’s commitment to security, including engagement with local Druze populations, and stated that the military will act against any threats.
Katz’s statement came on the backdrop of the military’s announcement that it was expanding infrastructure for troops serving in the Syrian buffer zone amid extreme cold weather in the area.
The IDF’s Northern Command and Technological and Logistics Directorate, working in cooperation with the Defense Ministry, provided soldiers with “equipment that can withstand various weather conditions, including temporary structures with an additional layer of insulation, heating equipment, generators and a water heating system,” the army said.