Syria condemned Israel on Saturday night for allegedly killing Madhat al-Saleh, a senior adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad who in the past spent 12 years in an Israeli prison.
Al-Saleh also reportedly served as an intelligence officer in the Syrian army. According to Israel's Kan 11 public broadcaster, he was arrested by Israel in 1985 after joining the "Syrian Resistance Movement in the Golan," disrupting the operation of security forces and the IDF and burying mines on military roads. In addition, he was arrested following an attempt to kidnap an Israeli soldier.
Al-Saleh was released in 1997. A year later he crossed the border into Syria. In 2000, he was appointed as the representative of the Golan Heights in the Syrian parliament and was appointed director of the Golan Affairs Office in the government.
Syrian state news agency SANA said Al-Saleh "was martyred as the Israeli enemy targeted him with fire while returning home" on Saturday in Ain al-Tineh, a village inside Syria that is near the Israeli Golan Heights.
SANA added that he was targeted by gunfire, not an airstrike.
According to Al-Jazeera, he was shot dead by an Israeli sniper as he stood near his home, across the border from the Druze town of Majdal Shams in Israel.
The Syrian government denounced "this cowardly criminal act".
An IDF spokesperson said the army does not comment on foreign reports.
Israeli media cited unnamed intelligence sources as saying that Saleh was a key figure in helping Hezbollah entrench its presence in the area.
The alleged assassination appeared to be tied to Israel's ongoing efforts to prevent Iran and Hezbollah from establishing a permanent presence on the Golan border and opening another front against Israel.
