Israel Strikes Syria After Missile Attack Kills Teenage Boy

Israel launched air strikes on nine targets inside Syria early Monday morning local time in response to a shelling attack on a civilian vehicle that left a 14-year-old Israeli boy dead Sunday.

A spokesperson for the Israeli Defense Forces told the Haaretz newspaper the strikes were carried out with both jets and missiles.

"The IDF will act decisively in any way and at any time it sees fit, in order to protect the citizens of Israel," the spokesperson said.

A statement posted on the IDF Facebook page said nine different targets in Syria were hit including headquarters. Haaretz also quoted an IDF statement that noted Sunday's shooting was the latest in a series of cross-border attacks from Syria.

"The shooting ... was a very serious act of provocation, and a continuation of a series of attacks carried out over the past several months against IDF forces throughout the border region, and in this area specifically," the statement said.

The antitank missile attack Sunday was the first deadly incident along Israel's border with Syria since the Syrian civil war began in 2011. In addition to the death of the young boy, the attack wounded three Israelis, including the child's father. The missile hit a vehicle in the Golan Heights region near a border fence between Israel and Syria. A military official told The Associated Press it was a "direct hit." Police said the boy was named Mohammed Karaka and he was from an Arab village in Northern Israel.

Israel, which has, thus far, not gotten involved in the Syrian conflict, annexed the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967. An IDF spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email from Business Insider. The White House declined to comment about whether U.S. officials were notified of Israel's plans and whether the Obama administration supported the strikes.