Golan Heights clashes

A suspected Israeli air strike on Jan. 18 in Syria at the Golan Heights killed at least seven people, including one Iranian general and six Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon. An Iranian spokesperson said that the fighters were there to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the region, which has been in rebel hands since 2013. 

The strike occurred near the city of Quneitra in the UN-supervised Golan Heights buffer zone. The buffer zone, created as part of the Agreement of Disengagement between Syria and Israel after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, is expected to be free of any military outside of the UN peacekeeping force. 

At press time, Israel had neither confirmed nor denied it was responsible for the strike.

On Jan. 28, an antitank rocket fired from Lebanon by Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia, killed two Israeli soldiers and injured six others. Following the rocket attack, Israel and Hezbollah exchanged heavy weapons fire during which a Spanish UN peacekeeper was killed.