Israeli airforce strikes nine military targets in Syria

Israeli aircraft attacked Syrian military sites after a teenager became Israel’s first fatality from more than three years of Syrian conflict, drawing Israel deeper into its northern neighbor’s fighting.

Nine positions were struck, including launching sites and a Syrian command center, the army said in an e-mailed statement.

“The IDF targeted nine Syrian army positions in response to the earlier attack that originated in Syria killing an Israeli teenager and injuring two other Israeli civilians. The targeted sites include Syrian [regional] military headquarters and launching positions,” the IDF said in a statement.

The 15-year-old Israeli Arab was killed, and two others, including his father, a Defense Ministry contractor, were wounded by an antitank missile that struck a water tanker, officials said.

The assault, which the Israeli military characterized as deliberate, escalated tensions along the Syrian frontier at a time when Israel is clashing with West Bank militants in its search for three kidnapped teens and battling rocket squads firing at its south from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.