Israel has carried out air raids in Syria and Syria retaliated using anti-aircraft weapons in one of the more serious exchanges of fire in the six years of civil war in the country.
The Syrian army claimed it shot down an Israeli plane after four jets violated its airspace. Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israeli army, denied this, saying: “The safety of the pilot, the aircraft or civilians was never compromised.”
The incident took place in the eastern countryside of Homs, Syria’s state news agency SANA said, although there was no confirmation on this from the Israeli side.
The Syrian army, backed by Russia, and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah have been fighting the Islamic State extremist group in the eastern Homs area.
Syria described the Israeli attack as a “blatant aggression” that shows “the Zionist enemy’s support of terrorist gangs.”
Read the full article by Weedah Hamza and Shabtai Gold at The Australian.