Israeli troops on the Golan Heights took cross-border gunfire and at least one mortar from Syria yesterday. IDF forces returned fire.

While insisting that Israel would not intervene in the Syrian war except in cases where Israel’s “red line” against the transfer of advanced weapons was at stake, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon emphasized that Israel would respond actively to cross-border attacks.

Earlier on Tuesday, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon toured the Syrian border and vowed that Israel would prevent the proliferation of weapons “that could threaten us in the future” to radical elements in Syria.

“But we’re not getting involved so long as this does not harm our interests. When it harms our interests, whether through Grad rocket fire from over the border, whether it is intended to hit our territory or not, we respond in order to silence the source of the fire,” Ya’alon added.

Security along Israel’s border with Syria has precipitously declined in recent weeks, with the Syrian army partially withdrawing and the region’s U.N. peacekeeping force losing troops. The security vacuum has been filled in by opposition forces, many of which are Al Qaeda-linked jihadists and some of whom have sworn to attack Israel: