Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday told army radio that Jerusalem would “act forcefully to preserve Israel’s security,” after a blast near the country’s Golan Heights border with Syria wounded three soldiers in what The Guardian contextualized as “one of several incidents this month on Israel’s northern borders with Syria and Lebanon.”

“We will act forcefully to preserve Israel’s security,” he said in remarks broadcast on army radio, saying there were an increasing number of jihadists and operatives of Lebanon’s Hezbollah on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights plateau.

A statement from the Israeli army said: “An explosive device was detonated against IDF (Israeli military) soldiers patrolling the Israeli-Syrian border.” It added that several soldiers were wounded in the attack.

In apparent retaliation, Israeli air strikes were carried out at a number of Syrian military targets overnight, according to reports.

There was no indication of who was responsible for Tuesday’s attack, but Israeli troops have engaged Hezbollah fighters several times in recent weeks, including in an incident that reportedly saw the IDF hit two members of the Iran-backed terror group as they attempted to plant a bomb near the Israeli-Syrian border. Observers have become increasingly vocal in warning that Hezbollah may be trying to provoke Israel into a conflict, as the organization struggles to rebuild its now-shattered brand as a Lebanese group fighting Israel rather than an Iranian proxy promoting Shiite expansionism across the Levant.

Hezbollah has somewhat notoriously dispersed what are believed to be roughly 100,000 missiles and rockets across a vast array of human shields, and is widely expected to flood media outlets with scenes of wounded civilians when another conflagration with Israel breaks out.

[Photo: Israel Defense Forces / flickr]