Israeli army declines comment on Syria bombing report

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli military had no immediate comment on Thursday on a Syrian news report that Israeli aircraft bombed targets in Syria.

"We have no knowledge of anything like this. We will get back to you," a military spokeswoman said by telephone from Tel Aviv.

An Israeli military source said the air force had been carrying out a major exercise in northern Israel this week.

The official Syrian news agency said Syrian air defenses fired at incoming Israeli planes which crossed into Syrian airspace after midnight (5 p.m. Wednesday EDT).

Tensions between the two neighbors have been high in recent months, with some Israeli intelligence officials suggesting President Bashar al-Assad's administration might be ready to try to take by force parts of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in the war of 1967.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who launched his forces against Syrian-allied Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon a year ago, has been at pains to stress that he has no hostile intentions toward Damascus.

Olmert has said he would like to reopen peace negotiations that have been stalled for seven years.

In June last year, Syrian guns fired on Israeli aircraft that crossed the border. Israeli jets bombed an empty Palestinian militant training camp in Syria in October 2003.