Gaza City, Oct 06: The armed wing of the Islamic group Hamas vowed today it would strike "in the heart of Israel" in retaliation for its air strike on an alleged Palestinian militant group training base in Syria. The Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades called on its militants to "quickly respond to this serious escalation and in the heart of Israel," in a statement received here by a news agency.


"Any aggression against an Arab or Islamic country is considered as an aggression against the Palestinian people," it said, vowing its response would be "dissuasive." The Israeli military said its air force had overnight hit a training camp deep inside Syria used by Palestinian militant groups like Islamic Jihad and Hamas.


Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for Saturday's suicide bombing in the Israeli coastal city of Haifa which killed the female bomber and 19 others. But Hamas claimed the target hit during the air strike was not a training ground, but a "camp for Palestinian refugees driven out in 1948." Islamic Jihad also earlier denied it was a training camp.

Bureau Report