WarSclerotic

IDF soldiers opened fire at a group of gunmen who crossed the 1974 ceasefire line in the Golan Heights and were approaching Israel’s border fence from Syria, the army said Sunday night.

No Israeli injuries were reported in the incident and the IDF was working to determine whether the unidentified individuals had been on an intelligence-gathering operation.

The 1974 ceasefire accord marked the end of the previous year’s Yom Kippur War and established a buffer zone between Israel and Syria. The area closest to the border became a full demilitarized zone, where only the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force and police could operate, while the rest of the buffer zone had strict limits on the number and types of military units and equipment allowed inside it.

The gunmen were said to have entered the demilitarized zone, but did not cross the border with Israel.

In October a border crossing between enemy nations Syria and Israel reopened at Quneitra, four years after it closed as UN observers fled the area due to fierce fighting in the Syrian civil war. The move marked a de facto recognition by Israel that dictator President Bashar Assad has returned to govern in southern Syria, after he defeated rebel groups in the area earlier this summer.

Israeli soldiers guard at the Quneitra border crossing with Syria in the Golan Heights on September 27, 2018. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)

Sunday’s incident comes just days after US President Donald Trump shocked the world — and his own defense and foreign policy officials — by declaring that the US had fulfilled its mission in Syria of defeating the Islamic State terror group and was therefore planning to remove its troops from the country. Defense analysts and officials from around the world largely rejected the claim that IS had been defeated, citing the terror group’s thousands of fighters still operating inside Syria despite its territorial losses.

Israel’s Channel 10 news reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried in vain to persuade Trump to change his mind, and that there was tremendous “disappointment” in Jerusalem over the pullout, which is regarded as a victory for Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.

The TV report described the US move as “a slap in the face” for Israel, noting that the US presence in Syria was “the only bargaining chip” in Israel’s efforts to persuade Russia to prevent Iran deepening its entrenchment in Syria.

For Israel, the pullout leaves it without a staunch ally in the fight against Iran in Syria and potentially opens the door for the Islamic Republic to create a so-called “land bridge” from Iran, through Iraq and Syria, into Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea.

Until now, American troops have been stationed in northeastern Syria, along the Iraqi border, blocking such a corridor, through which Iran could more easily distribute advanced weapons and technology throughout the region, especially to its Lebanese client the Hezbollah terrorist army.

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot speaks at a conference in the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya on December 23, 2018. (Eli Dassa/IDC)

Earlier on Sunday, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot called the White House’s decision to pull its troops from Syria a “significant event,” but said the Israeli military would continue to independently fight Iran’s military presence in the neighboring country.

In August, the IDF said it conducted an airstrike that killed seven Islamic State fighters who had crossed the ceasefire line. The gunmen had made it some 200 meters (650 feet) past the “alpha line” but did not manage to reach the technical fence bordering the Israeli Golan Heights, IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus said.

A number of explosive belts and a Kalashnikov rifle were later found during searches of the area, according to the army.

Those gunmen had crossed into the Israeli territory through the Syria-Jordan-Israel border triangle.

The army later released a short clip showing the IS gunmen heading toward Israel and Israeli soldiers crossing into no-man’s land to search for them. Conricus said that there had been no threat to Israeli communities along the northern border, but he did not say whether the IS gunmen were intending to attack Israeli military targets.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

IDF soldiers opened fire at a group of gunmen who crossed the 1974 ceasefire line in the Golan Heights and were approaching Israel’s border fence from Syria, the army said Sunday night.

No Israeli injuries were reported in the incident and the IDF was working to determine whether the unidentified individuals had been on an intelligence-gathering operation.

The 1974 ceasefire accord marked the end of the previous year’s Yom Kippur War and established a buffer zone between Israel and Syria. The area closest to the border became a full demilitarized zone, where only the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force and police could operate, while the rest of the buffer zone had strict limits on the number and types of military units and equipment allowed inside it.

The gunmen were said to have entered the demilitarized zone, but did not cross the border with Israel.

In October a border crossing between enemy nations Syria and Israel reopened at Quneitra, four years after it closed as UN observers fled the area due to fierce fighting in the Syrian civil war. The move marked a de facto recognition by Israel that dictator President Bashar Assad has returned to govern in southern Syria, after he defeated rebel groups in the area earlier this summer.

Israeli soldiers guard at the Quneitra border crossing with Syria in the Golan Heights on September 27, 2018. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)

Sunday’s incident comes just days after US President Donald Trump shocked the world — and his own defense and foreign policy officials — by declaring that the US had fulfilled its mission in Syria of defeating the Islamic State terror group and was therefore planning to remove its troops from the country. Defense analysts and officials from around the world largely rejected the claim that IS had been defeated, citing the terror group’s thousands of fighters still operating inside Syria despite its territorial losses.

Israel’s Channel 10 news reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried in vain to persuade Trump to change his mind, and that there was tremendous “disappointment” in Jerusalem over the pullout, which is regarded as a victory for Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.

The TV report described the US move as “a slap in the face” for Israel, noting that the US presence in Syria was “the only bargaining chip” in Israel’s efforts to persuade Russia to prevent Iran deepening its entrenchment in Syria.

For Israel, the pullout leaves it without a staunch ally in the fight against Iran in Syria and potentially opens the door for the Islamic Republic to create a so-called “land bridge” from Iran, through Iraq and Syria, into Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea.

Until now, American troops have been stationed in northeastern Syria, along the Iraqi border, blocking such a corridor, through which Iran could more easily distribute advanced weapons and technology throughout the region, especially to its Lebanese client the Hezbollah terrorist army.

IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot speaks at a conference in the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya on December 23, 2018. (Eli Dassa/IDC)

Earlier on Sunday, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot called the White House’s decision to pull its troops from Syria a “significant event,” but said the Israeli military would continue to independently fight Iran’s military presence in the neighboring country.

In August, the IDF said it conducted an airstrike that killed seven Islamic State fighters who had crossed the ceasefire line. The gunmen had made it some 200 meters (650 feet) past the “alpha line” but did not manage to reach the technical fence bordering the Israeli Golan Heights, IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus said.

A number of explosive belts and a Kalashnikov rifle were later found during searches of the area, according to the army.

Those gunmen had crossed into the Israeli territory through the Syria-Jordan-Israel border triangle.

The army later released a short clip showing the IS gunmen heading toward Israel and Israeli soldiers crossing into no-man’s land to search for them. Conricus said that there had been no threat to Israeli communities along the northern border, but he did not say whether the IS gunmen were intending to attack Israeli military targets.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

The British military reportedly used an Israeli anti-drone system to ground an unmanned aerial vehicle that shuttered the airfield at London’s Gatwick Airport for over 36 hours beginning Thursday, stranding tens of thousands of passengers.

Flights resumed Friday at Gatwick, the United Kingdom’s second busiest airport, while police said they were still hunting for the drone operator or operators and Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said “military capabilities” were being deployed to safeguard the airport.

Though Grayling did not give details on what equipment was being deployed, The Daily Mail reported that the British Army used the Israeli-made “Drone Dome” to bring down the UAV after police failed for hours to do so with a commercial anti-drone system.

Six of the systems, which were developed by Israeli defense firm Rafael, were sold to the UK Ministry of Defense in August in an estimated $20 million deal, according to Israel’s Globes financial daily.

According to RADA Electronic Industries, which makes the radars used in the Drone Dome, the system can identify drones from 3-5 kilometers (1.8-3 miles) away using 360-degree detection technology.

The Drone Dome can then use its electro-optical sensors to jam the radio frequencies being used by the drone’s operator to control it, making the UAV inoperable and bringing it down in a so-called “soft-kill.”

The system also has a laser that can melt drones, but the Daily Mail said this technology was not purchased by Britain.

Police officers stand near equipment on the rooftop of a building at London Gatwick Airport, south of London, on December 21, 2018. (Ben Stansall/AFP)

The British military on Thursday joined police and aviation authorities in the search for the culprit or culprits behind the drone intrusion, which police said was designed to cause maximum disruption over the holiday period.

“There are a range of measures which are there today which should give passengers confidence that they are safe to fly,” Grayling, the transportation minister, told the BBC.

Grayling said there had been about 40 sightings of “a small number of drones” while the airport was shut down. He told the BBC the drone disruption at Gatwick was “unprecedented anywhere in the world.”

The last confirmed drone sighting was at 10 p.m. Thursday.

Officials said shooting down a drone remained a “tactical option” but there were concerns that any weapon used to attack the drone could inadvertently hurt people on the ground.

The airport, about 30 miles (45 kilometers) south of central London, sees more than 43 million passengers a year. About 110,000 had been scheduled to pass through on Thursday, one of the busiest days of the year.

The runway closure has had a spillover impact on the international air travel system, and thousands of passengers remain short of their destinations.

An information board shows scheduled flights arrivals cancelled and diverted at London Gatwick Airport, south of London, on December 20, 2018 after all flights were grounded due to drones flying over the airfield. (Glyn Kirk/AFP)

Many holiday plans were disrupted and travelers stuck at Gatwick described freezing conditions as hundreds slept on benches and floors. Many passengers and their families complained they weren’t being kept informed about re-routed flights.

Authorities haven’t released details about the drones being used except to characterize them as meeting “industrial specifications.”

The motive for the drone use isn’t clear. Police say there is no indication it is “terror related.”