Israel Has First Clash on Syrian Border in Six Years

In the first clash along Israel’s frontier with Syria since 1985, guerrillas fired guns and shoulder-launched missiles Wednesday at an Israeli lookout post atop Mt. Hermon, killing a reserve soldier, the army said.

At least two guerrillas were spotted fleeing toward Syria after the attack, but “there is no certainty about Syrian involvement in the incident,” the military command said.

The shooting came after Israeli troops killed five Arab guerrillas and wounded another during two attempts to infiltrate Israel from Lebanon in the last two days.

The army identified the slain soldier as 1st Sgt. Ehud Ben-Mordechai, 26, a reservist from the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon Letzion.

It said in a communique that in the “early morning, terrorists opened fire at an army outpost in the Hermon area, near the border with Syria, using (shoulder-launched) missiles and light-arms fire.

“A soldier was killed by the fire, soldiers fired back at the guerrillas who promptly disengaged and fled toward the Syrian border.”

Searches later indicated the guerrillas had fled toward Syria, the army said.

It said it also was unclear from which direction the guerrillas had come.

Israel captured strategic Mt. Hermon from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War along with the Golan Heights and annexed these areas in 1981.

Defense Minister Moshe Arens linked the attack to the recent movement of Lebanese guerrilla groups toward the Israeli border.

“We have an increase in frequency in attempts to infiltrate Israel by terrorists,” Arens said on army radio. “They are trying to justify their existence in Lebanon by operations against Israel.”

Despite persistent tensions between Israel and Syria, the Golan frontier is generally quiet. The clash was the first fatal incident along Israel’s frontier with Syria since January, 1985, when a lone Syrian infiltrator was shot and killed in the Golan.