Israel is bracing for a possible upsurge in terrorism and other violence across its border with Syria, and is preparing the necessary “operational responses,” a senior army commander said Thursday.

Given the violence and chaos in Syria at present, a hitherto quiet border was likely to heat up, Brigadier-General Tamir Hyman, the commander of the division responsible for the Israeli-Syrian border on the Golan Heights, said.

Briefing reporters during a tour of the northern border, Hyman said that while the Syrian front has been relatively quiet for years, the increasing violence between government and opposition forces in Syria increases the potential of terrorist attacks on Israel. As a result, the IDF is investing funds to bolster its infrastructure along the border, as well as to improve early warning system, he said.

Hyman also said the Golan Heights — a strategic ridge captured by Israel from Syria in 1967 — is one of the places where a security situation can deteriorate rapidly because “the topography allows very easy access to the Israeli side of the border.”