JERUSALEM -- A roadside bomb hit an Israeli patrol in the Golan Heights on Tuesday, the army said, wounding four soldiers in the most serious violence to strike the area since the Syrian conflict began three years ago. Israel said it responded with artillery strikes on Syrian army targets.
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, said the patrol noticed "suspicious movement" along the frontier with Syria, and when it went to investigate, the blast went off.
"Clearly this is a grave result, and we will be following it," he said.
The army later added that one of the soldiers was seriously wounded.
Last week, a roadside bomb went off near a military patrol along the Lebanese border, causing no injuries. Earlier this month, the Israeli army said it killed two militants affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group fighting alongside Syrian government troops, who were trying to plant a bomb along the frontier.
Although Lerner said it was too early to blame any group for Tuesday's attack, Israel has been on high alert for an attack by Hezbollah since an Israeli airstrike last month targeted a suspected weapons convoy of the group in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah vowed to avenge the strike, though Israel has never confirmed carrying it out.
Israel has said it will not allow sophisticated weapons to flow from Syria to the Iranian-supported Hezbollah, an ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad and a heavily armed foe of Israel
Lerner said Israel targeted Syrian positions Tuesday because it holds Syria responsible for all attacks emanating from its territory.
"We view the Syrian army as responsible for the incident," he said. "I can't confirm that it was Hezbollah behind this, but it wouldn't be the first time. Last week there was an incident of explosive devices in the vicinity and we do see increased involvement of Hezbollah in Syria."
Israel and Hezbollah are bitter enemies and fought a month-long war in 2006.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed the area in a move that was not internationally recognized. Israeli forces have come under fire on several occasions since a rebellion against Assad broke out in 2011. Israel has been carefully monitoring the Syrian war since the fighting began.
While relations are hostile, the ruling Assad family has kept the border area with Israel quiet for most of the past 40 years. Israel is concerned that Assad's ouster could push the country into the hands of militant Islamic extremists or into sectarian warfare, destabilizing the region.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will act against such attacks.
"In recent years we have succeeded in preserving the quiet before the civil war in Syria, and we will act with forcefulness to preserve Israel's security," he told Army Radio.
Despite the animosity, dozens of wounded Syrians have reached the frontier, and Israeli soldiers have taken them into the country for treatment at Israeli hospitals.
As the Syrian war continues to spill into other areas, Hezbollah gunmen and local Shiite Muslim residents tightened their blockade of a Sunni Lebanese town near the Syrian border Tuesday.
The standoff outside of Arsal, which has long been a haven for Syrian rebels, has further stoked sectarian tensions in Lebanon, where Sunnis and Shiites support opposing sides in the Syrian conflict.
Over the weekend, gunmen closed off Arsal's only road to the rest of Lebanon by erecting a sandbagged checkpoint manned by heavily armed Hezbollah gunmen and Shiites from a string of surrounding towns. The move came after the area's Shiites blamed Arsal for rocket fire toward their villages in recent days and a car bombing that killed three people.
On Tuesday, Shiite gunmen opened fire at vehicles from Arsal that tried to drive up toward the checkpoint, said the town's deputy mayor, Ahmad Fliti. The shooting heightened despair within Arsal, home to 40,000 Lebanese and 52,000 Syrian refugees for whom the road is a vital lifeline.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama's administration ordered the Syrian government Tuesday to suspend its diplomatic and consular missions in the United States, requiring all personnel who are not legal U.S residents to leave the country.
The order, three years after the start of Syria's bloody civil war, essentially shutters the Syrian Embassy in Washington and its honorary consulates in Troy, Mich., and Houston.
"We have determined it is unacceptable for individuals appointed by that regime to conduct diplomatic or consular operations in the United States," Daniel Rubenstein, the U.S. special envoy to Syria, said in a statement.
Tuesday's order should not affect Syria's mission at the United Nations although the State Department earlier this month imposed restrictions limiting its ambassador to New York.
Information for this article was contributed by Edith M. Lederer, Diaa Hadid, Albert Aji, Ryan Lucas, Hussein Mala and Lara Jakes of The Associated Press.
A Section on 03/19/2014