JERUSALEM: Israeli forces killed four gunmen belonging to an Islamic State affiliate in Syria who had opened fire on soldiers in the occupied Golan Heights on Sunday, a military spokesman said.
Spokesman Peter Lerner told AFP the Israeli soldiers were targeted with machine-gun fire and mortars and replied with fire, before the air force bombed the vehicle carrying the gunmen identified as members of "Shuhada al-Yarmouk, an IS affiliate".
The soldiers, from the Golani brigade, were beyond the fence but on territory under Israeli control, Lerner said, noting none of them were wounded in the clash.
Israel seized 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles) of the Golan from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.
While avoiding being drawn into the internal Syrian conflict, Israel attacks Syrian military targets when fire, even unintentional, spills over the demarcation line.
The Israeli army holds the Syrian government accountable for any fire from its territory, regardless of the source.