Israel shelled Syrian fighters Sunday, November 18, after gunfire from their civil war spilled over to the Israel-controlled Golan Heights, as the conflict appeared to inch closer to the Jewish state, the Associated Press reported. The civil war in Syria has renewed tensions in the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau that Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 war. Despite constant hostility between the two countries, Syria has been careful to keep the border quiet since the 1973 Mideast war. In recent days, Israeli troops have fired into Syria twice before, responding to what appeared to be stray mortar shells exploding in Israel-held territory. While it is widely believed that Syrian President Bashar Assad does not want to pick a fight with Israel, some warn that if his situation becomes desperate, the embattled Syrian leader might try to draw Israel into the fighting as a distraction.