An Israeli military vehicle on the occupied Golan Heights was hit by gunfire from neighbouring Syria yesterday, the Israeli army said.

“A military vehicle travelling in the Golan was hit by gunfire from Syria. Apparently they were stray bullets, and there were no injuries” to those aboard the vehicle, a military spokesman said.

“The incident occurred in the central sector of the Golan Heights near the demarcation line,” he said, adding that the Israeli army took no action in response.

Israel’s armed forces chief Lieutenant General Benny Gantz said on Sunday that his country could become involved in the Syrian conflict, as fighting between regime forces and rebels raged near Israeli positions on the strategic Heights.

“This is a Syrian affair that could turn into our affair,” Gantz was quoted as saying by the army’s website during a visit to troops. It added that he told the soldiers to be alert, but did not elaborate further.

Israel on Saturday lodged a complaint with United Nations monitors after three Syrian tanks entered a demilitarised zone on the Heights which separates the two sides, reportedly to fight rebels.

Syria remains formally at war with Israel, which captured part of the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move the international community does not recognise.

Since a 1974 disengagement agreement between the two countries, a 1,200-strong unarmed UN force has patrolled a buffer zone on the Heights.

In July, Israel complained to the UN after Syrian soldiers entered the zone in violation of the agreement.