First Shots NEW WAR

[Christina]

Syrian Border Attacks May Be First Shot in New War15 Adar 5767, 05 March 07 11:03by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu(IsraelNN.com) Syrian terrorists said they tossed mines across the Syrian border into Israel. Israeli officials claimed the attackers were shepherds. The provocative tactics copy those used by Hizbullah ahead of last year's war in Lebanon. In a statement to WorldNetDaily, the new Syrian terrorist group said that it was responsible for planting six mines across the Israeli border Saturday morning. IDF soldiers prevented the attack from succeeding when they discovered the explosive devices before their patrols passed by. The terrorist gang, the Committee for the Liberation of the Golan Heights, said it is copying the methods of the Hizbullah in Lebanon. Saturday's incident of placing anti-personnel mines across the Syria-Israel lines, the first such attack on Israel, comes on the heels of reports of unusual Syrian military activity along the border. Golan Heights residents fear that extensive construction on the Syrian side is intended to house soldiers and terrorists in preparation for the same kind of offensive as last summer's cross-border attacks on Israel.Israel initially said that Syrian shepherds were responsible for the mine placement. Israeli officials filed a complaint with the United Nations, which is responsible for maintaining security in the buffer zone between the two countries.Before last summer's war, Hizbullah terrorists often strayed over the Lebanese border into Israel, sometimes disguised as shepherds, with concealed explosive devices. Their goal in planting the bombs was to entice Israel into a retaliation and a rise in tension. In most cases, Israel refrained from responding, even when the incidents escalated into isolated Katyusha rocket attacks.Hizbullah simultaneously built a huge underground network of bunkers in southern Lebanon, where weapons were stored and used for attacks during a five-week war with Israel last summer. The war flared after the terrorist organization kidnapped two IDF soldiers and killed seven last June, prompting an extensive Israeli reaction. The resultant IDF campaign against the Hizbullah in Lebanon concluded without the return of the soldiers, the stated aim of the Israeli government at the time.The Syrian terrorists who claimed responsibility for placing the mines on Saturday is the same group that said last month it is holding missing IDF soldier Guy Hever, who has been missing since 1997.