“Israeli attacks against Syria act of war”

Israel has in recent days pounded several military targets in Syria, saying the attacks were in response to the rockets fired by Syrian factions fighting each other which landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Although none of the rockets from Syrian rival factions hit the Israeli military targets, the Tel Aviv regime bombed Syrian army forces and equipment. Press TV has asked Scott Rickard, a former American Intelligence Linguist from Tampa, Florida, and Maxine Dovere, a journalist and political commentator from New York, about Israel’s excessive response.

Scott Rickard said that Israel has illegally attacked Syria numerous time before, noting that all such instances of aggression against the Syrian territory, including the latest attacks, clearly amount to “an act of war.”

“The Israelis have bombed targets inside Syria over and over again dozens of times. So, we have tremendous amounts of act of war against Syria, by not only the United States, but coalition and Israel dozens of times. They have attacked with airplanes flying over Syrian territory bombing Syria. So, this is a serious act of war,” the commentator said on Sunday night.

Such an illegal and criminal act of war is a “50-year problem” that continues today, he added.

In reference to the Syrian response to the assaults made by the United States, Israel and their allies, he explained that Damascus has chosen to be “extremely restraint.”

Rickard pointed to the historical aspect of the Israeli occupation, noting that “Israel has been acting illegally and occupying illegally many territories in and around what was actually given to Israel.”

The analyst further said the Tel Aviv regime attacks Syrian government forces every time they try to crush the militants who cross the Golan border to be aided and abetted by the Israelis.

The militants, who are fighting against Syrian army forces, are “seeking refuge” in the occupied parts of the Golan Heights, he said, adding the projectiles land in Israeli-occupied territories accidentally, but the Israelis use this as an excuse to hit Syrian military forces.

He also said that Israel is among the key players that have brought death and destruction to Syria for more than six years.

Meanwhile, Maxine Dovere said that Israel responded to “missiles and bombs falling on its territory” and the act of targeting the positions of Syrian forces was for the purpose of “defense rather than offense.”

The border of the Golan Heights was “quiet” for several years, but “the idea that the border has now become an active “hot border” is good for neither side, she warned.

Elsewhere, the journalist called on Israeli, Syrian and Palestinian leaders to pursue peace and stability instead of war.

“The point of war is misery. War takes away the ability to progress,” she said, noting, “If the leaders ... would really take into account the interest of their people, then there could be peace.”

Israel usurped the Golan Heights from Syria after the 1967 Six-Day War and later occupied it, in a move never recognized by the United Nations. The Tel Aviv regime allows militants who flee Syrian government forces to use the Golan Heights as a bastion to retrieve and strike back on Syrians.

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