ISRAEL attacked Syrian troops advancing against alQaida terrorists on Wednesday night, aping the US bid to construct a pretext for war.

A Syrian army post in southeastern Quneitra province came under fire from Israeli forces as government troops regained positions lost to the al-Qaida-affiliated Hetesh group.

Tel Aviv claimed a mortar shell had landed in the occupied west of the Golan Heights as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the area, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and later effectively annexed.