Israel will not allow terrorist entities aligned with Hezbollah or Iran to entrench themselves on Israel's Golan Heights border, and will do whatever is necessary to push them back, Defense Minister Benny Gantz told Israel Radio on Wednesday, following reports from Syria that IDF tanks had fired on targets near Quneitra in the Syrian Golan Heights overnight.
The Syrian media reported that the targets were used by forces affiliated with Hezbollah, and claimed that IDF tanks had also fired on a Syrian army base in the area.
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When Gantz was asked what transpired in Syria overnight, he responded, "We are operation on all fronts. I won't get into who fired at what overnight … things happen."
While the IDF is keeping mum on the reported events near Quneitra, it did confirm strikes on underground Hamas infrastructure in retaliation for rocket fired at southern Israel on Tuesday evening.
At 11:25 p.m., the IDF Spokesperson's Unit put out a Twitter notification that read: "A short while ago, IDF fighter jets and combat helicopters struck underground infrastructure belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization in the southern Gaza Strip."
The IDF explained that the strikes were a response to the rocket fired at southern Israel from Gaza earlier Tuesday evening.
Hazem Qasim, a spokesman for Hamas, discussed the events, said that they were linked to Israel's normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and accused the Gulf Arab states of silently agreeing to what he called "Israeli aggression."
"The delegation from the United Arab Emirates arrived [Tuesday] to complete the normalization agreements. Tonight, the IDF carried out strikes in Gaza and in Syria. Normalization encourages the occupation to continue its aggression and its settlement policy," Qasim said.
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Dean Shmuel Elmas and Lilach Shoval contributed to this report.
