Three Syrian tanks enter Golan demilitarized zone, Israel complains

Three Syrian tanks entered on Saturday the demilitarized Golan Heights zone that separates Syria and Israel, prompting the Jewish state to lodge a complaint with United Nations monitors.

The demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria on Saturday, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.

“The Israeli Defense Forces have filed a complaint with the U.N. (peacekeeping) force in the area,” the spokeswoman said. She had no further information on what the tanks were doing.

“Three Syrian tanks entered the demilitarized zone near the central Golan heights and the Israel Defense Forces filed a violation complaint to the UN,” a statement said.

The spokeswoman told AFP the incident occurred on Saturday morning, at some distance from Israeli positions on the strategic plateau.

“I don't know how many kilometer’s, but not very close to the border,” she said.

Israeli media said the tanks were involved in fighting in the Syrian village of Beer Ajam against rebels trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

Israel is technically at war with Syria, but it has generally taken a cautious line on the uprising in its Arab neighbour.

Errant Syrian mortars landed in Israel in September, spurring Israel to lodge a similar complaint with the United Nations observer force that monitors a long-standing, de facto truce between the two countries.

Syria remains formally at war with Israel, which captured part of the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move the international community does not recognize.

Since a 1974 disengagement agreement between the two countries, a 1,200-strong unarmed U.N. force has patrolled a buffer zone on the heights.

In July, Israel complained to the U.N. after Syrian soldiers crossed into the zone in violation of the agreement.