Syria: Israel drone strike kills civilian near Golan Heights

DAMASCUS, Syria – An Israeli drone fired a missile at a car in southern Syria on Thursday, killing one person, Syrian state TV reported, while an opposition war monitor said the man targeted was an anti-Israel operative.

The state-run media outlet gave no further details on the attack near the southern village of Hader in the Quneitra region on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. It said the person killed was a civilian.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the man killed was a member of the “Syrian resistance to liberate Golan.” It did not elaborate.

Quneitra Gov. Humam Dibyat identified the person killed as Adel Tawil and said he worked at a police station and was targeted while returning home from work.

“He was innocent. He was an honourable nationalist,” Dibyat said.

The Israeli military had no comment on the drone strike.

Israel has repeatedly struck Iran-linked targets in Syria in recent years and has warned against any permanent Iranian presence on the frontier.

A Syrian military statement reported this week an Israeli attack near Damascus International Airport and said its air defences confronted Israeli rockets coming from the direction of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. It said the defenders intercepted or shot down most of them.

In a rare acknowledgment of operations in neighbouring Syria, Israel said its warplanes attacked targets late Sunday of the Palestinian militant Islamic Jihad group south of Damascus, in addition to sites in the Gaza Strip.

It said the sites attacked were used for “research and development of armaments” manufactured in Syria and the Gaza Strip. It said the sites also produce dozens of kilograms (pounds) of rocket fuel each month.