JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said on Monday it had killed four men laying explosives near the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights, the latest security incident on the tense northern borders.

“They were inside Israeli territory but beyond the fence,” military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told journalists in a telephone briefing.

He said an Israeli commando unit lying in wait attacked the intruders shortly after 11 pm on Sunday with assault rifles and sniper fire backed by air strikes.

“Our estimate is that all four were killed,” Conricus said in English, adding that there were no Israeli casualties. Tensions are already high between bitter rivals Israel and Syria.

Last month, Israeli army helicopters struck military targets in southern Syria in retaliation for earlier “munitions” fire towards Israel.

Israel did not directly blame Syrian forces for the munitions fire, but said it held the Damascus government responsible.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that “the army thwarted an attempted attack on the Syrian front”.

“We don’t let our guard down,” he said, recalling an incident at the Lebanese border last week that prompted Israeli artillery fire across the frontier, as well as rocket fire Sunday evening from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip which led to retaliatory Israeli air strikes. Israel will “strike anyone who attacks us or tries to attack us,” Netanyahu said.

Several Israeli media outlets reported that Monday’s actions were in response to an increased threat from the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, which has a significant presence in Syria.

Last month, five Iran-backed fighters were killed in an Israeli missile strike south of Damascus, according to Britain-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Then last Monday, Israel said it thwarted an infiltration attempt from Lebanon by up to five Hezbollah gunmen, a claim denied by the Iran-backed group.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2020