Israel hits Syrian military targets after stray fire on Golan: Army

The Israeli army attacked two Syrian military targets on the Golan Heights after stray Syrian fire damaged the security fence along the demarcation line, a military spokesperson said on Monday.

"In response to errant fire yesterday from Syria that hit the border with Israel, damaging the security fence, the IDF (Israeli army) responded and targeted two Syrian military targets in the central Golan Heights," the spokesperson told the AFP news agency.

While Israel has sought to avoid being dragged into the Syrian civil war, it has attacked Syrian military targets when fire from the conflict has spilled over into its territory. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also acknowledged in April that Israel had attacked dozens of convoys transporting weapons in Syria destined for its enemy Hezbollah.

Israel seized 1,200km of the Golan Heights from Syria during the Six-Day War of 1967 and repelled a Syrian offensive to reclaim it during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

It annexed the area in 1981 but the move has never been recognised by the international community.

While the area has been largely peaceful since 1973, violence began to flare up again following the beginning of the civil war in Syria in 2011 as rebel groups took control of territory on the Syrian side of the divide.