The military determined Monday that it was "an individual in the Syrian Army" who fired the anti-tank missile that killed 13-year-old Mohammed Karaka on the northern border on Sunday. However, it has yet to be determined whether the fire was the independent initiative of a junior officer, or whether whoever fired was following orders from much higher up. Defense officials said that the incident's actual chain of command was "inconsequential" and laid blamed on the Syrian Army as a whole, as it is the sovereign entity in the area. Therefore, the Israel Defense Forces directed its response at the Syrian Army's bases. Israel's automatic response included airstrikes on nine Syrian Army facilities grouped in two locations near the area from where the fire emanated. The targets belonged to the Syrian Army's 90th Division, which operates in the area, and included buildings and armored vehicles. Syrian media reported 10 fatalities in the strikes. IDF sources hedged that despite the casualties on the Syrian side, the incident had run its course and a Syrian response to the strike is highly unlikely. Syrian President Bashar Assad has his hands full with the civil war and is not interested in fanning the flames on the Israeli front. Israel, for its part, would rather avoid an escalation as well, as it would further undermine the familiar elements of the Syrian regime, and would most likely bring about the rise of radical, power-hungry elements, including organizations affiliated with al-Qaida. Despite these reassuring assessments, the IDF is maintaining high alert on the Golan Heights, including some reinforcements for the troops on the ground; but mostly, the military's intelligence network in the area has been ordered to be especially vigilant. Sunday's terror attack is likely to inspire changes in the operational protocols along the border. In some ways, the incident has transported the IDF back to the operational realities of the 1990s, when Hezbollah used to fire advanced Russian-made missiles at Israeli military posts along the border. As a result, the IDF reinforced the posts with specially designed barricades, meant to block the missiles and buffer the blast. The new security fence along the Golan Heights border worked in a similar fashion, bearing the brunt of the explosion caused by the missile's impact. Karaka's death and the injuries sustained by his father and the other workmen near the border, were the result of the blasts' residual shrapnel. The IDF's investigation of the incident has found that the two Israeli vehicles traveling along the fence were clearly seen from the Syrian side of the border, and that the fire was directed at them with a clear intent to harm. As a result, and given the threat posed by the Russian-made Kornet missiles both the Syrian Army and Hezbollah possess, the IDF is likely to change the nature and scope of the operations along the border fence, as well as set up further buffers, to minimize the danger for soldiers and civilians alike.
