Israel Defense Forces troops operating in a buffer zone in southern Syria came under fire on Friday evening, the military said, in the first such incident since Israeli forces deployed to the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, following the fall of the Assad regime last month.

The IDF said soldiers returned fire toward the source of the shooting.

There were no Israeli injuries, the military said.

It marked the first such incident since Israeli forces deployed to the buffer zone on the border between Israel and Syria, following the fall of the Assad regime last month, originally describing the move as a temporary measure designed to prevent hostile actors from utilizing the power vacuum and taking over the strategic territory to threaten Israel.

On Saturday morning, the “Syrian Resistance,” an organization affiliated with the former regime in Syria, claimed responsibility for the incident, a Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese outlet reported.

The group announced it “has begun its operations against the Israeli enemy alongside operations against al-Julani’s terrorist gangs,” using the nom de guerre of new Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

According to the Al-Akhbar outlet, the group also saids “the Syrian Resistance will not allow Israel to occupy our land. We will ambush it and al-Julani’s gangs with precise ambushes and surprise attacks.”

The IDF said last night that soldiers had returned fire at the source of the shooting, and that there were no Israeli injuries.

On Wednesday, Syria’s new authorities urged Israel’s withdrawal from the Syrian territory during talks with the head of a UN observer force, state media reported.

During Jean-Pierre Lacroix’s meeting with Syria’s foreign and defense ministers, “it was confirmed that Syria is ready to fully cooperate with the UN,” the SANA official news agency said.

Syria is also ready to redeploy forces to the Golan in line with a 1974 agreement establishing a buffer zone, “provided Israeli forces withdraw immediately,” SANA added.

Israel conquered most of the Golan from Syria during the 1967 Six Day War, ahead of which several Arab armies had planned an invasion of Israel. Jerusalem annexed the area in 1981, in a move only recognized by the United States. The UN-patrolled buffer zone was intended to keep Israeli and Syrian forces apart.

Forces loyal to Assad’s government had abandoned their positions in southern Syria before rebel groups even reached Damascus, leading Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say there was a “vacuum on Israel’s border.”

The United Nations considers Israel’s takeover of the buffer zone a violation of the 1974 disengagement accord. Israel says the accord had fallen apart since one of the sides to it was no longer in a position to implement it.

Agencies contributed to this report.