View from Israeli Golan Heights of fighting in Syria (file)
View from Israeli Golan Heights of fighting in Syria (file)Basel Awidat/Flash 90

The U.S. embassy in Israel on Wednesday issued a travel advisory to the Golan Heights in the wake of the recent incidents whereby mortars from Syria exploded in Israel.

“Due to multiple mortar rounds launched from Syria and landing in the northern Golan Heights in recent days, we urge U.S. citizens to carefully consider and possibly defer travel to that area until the situation stabilizes,” the embassy said in a statement.

“The United States Embassy in Tel Aviv continues to closely monitor the security situation and advises U.S. citizens to visit the website of the Government of Israel’s Home Front Command for further emergency preparedness guidance. Due to the recent mortar incidents, U.S. government employees are temporarily prohibited from personal travel into the area north of Route 87 and east of Route 918 in the Golan Heights,” it added.

The statement urged American citizens in Israel to “be aware of your surroundings at all times, to monitor the media, and to follow directions of emergency responders.”

Earlier on Wednesday, a projectile fired from Syria exploded on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights, the latest in a series of similar incidents.

No injuries were reported.

On Tuesday night, the Israel Air Force (IAF) targeted artillery positions of the Syrian regime in the Syrian Golan Heights, in retaliation to three projectiles which hit Israel.

On Monday night, IAF aircraft attacked cannons belonging to the Syrian regime in the central part of the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.

The IDF spokesman said that the attack is in retaliation for a mortar shell hitting a kibbutzabout a kilometer from the Israeli-Syrian border in the northern Golan Heights, earlier on Monday evening.


While defense officials have described the incidents as “spillover” from the Syrian civil war, Golan Regional Council head Eli Malka rejected that notion.

“There is no difference between deliberate firing and spillover. The mortar is the same mortar and it poses a risk to human life,” he said.