Israeli warplanes strike abandoned UN compound in Syria

By Kaamil Ahmed

JERUSALEM

Israel struck an abandoned UN compound in Syria in an overnight air raid, saying Daesh-linked militants had used the site as a base for carrying out attacks.

In a statement released early Monday morning, the Israeli military said the site had recently been used to attack soldiers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

It had also functioned as a base for fighters operating in the Syrian-held part of the Golan Heights, according to the statement.

Israeli soldiers had come under fire on Sunday while preparing to carry out an "ambush against potential threats", army spokesman Peter Lerner tweeted.

He said four militants using a vehicle with a mounted weapon had been killed in the retaliatory strike.

The Times of Israel reported that the army's Golani Brigade had crossed the security fence but remained within the Israeli-held part of the Golan Heights.

Israel has occupied most of Syria’s Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in 2011, the Israeli army has occasionally struck targets inside Syria, especially after shells fired from Syrian territory have fallen inside the Golan Heights, either intentionally or in error.