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Syria group: Israel kills Hezbollah fighter in Golan Heights

January 30, 2023 at 11:44 am

Israeli tanks are seen in action during a military drill in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 7, 2021 [JALAA MAREY/AFP via Getty Images]

The Israeli army killed a Hezbollah fighter and wounded another who crossed the Syrian border into the occupied Golan Heights, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said yesterday.

The UK-based group said the two Hezbollah fighters were likely on a reconnaissance mission and trying to lay mines when they were spotted.

However, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper quoted an Israeli army spokesperson as saying that Israeli soldiers shot at two armed men who crossed the Syrian border into the Golan Heights yesterday, killing one and injuring the other.

The army spokesperson said a preliminary investigation found that the two were not planning an attack a day, however the German Press Agency (DPA) reported that the men were Hezbollah fighters who were trying to infiltrate Israel.

Israel occupied the Golan Heights in 1967 and announced its annexation in 1981. In 2019, the administration of the former US President Donald Trump recognised Israel’s annexation, contrary to the international position that considers the Golan Heights as Arab land occupied by Israel.

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