Israel has launched Patriot missiles in what it describes as a successful interception of a Syrian warplane that penetrated its airspace, but Damascus says the jet was fired on as it took part in operations against rebels on Syrian territory.
The incident took place over the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau between the two old foes and whose Israeli-occupied side has been on high alert as Syrian government forces close in with Russian support to regain rebel-held ground.
For the second time in as many days, Israeli sirens sounded on the Golan Heights and witnesses saw the contrails of two missiles flying skyward.
The military said it fired Patriots at a Syrian Sukhoi jet “that infiltrated into Israeli airspace”.
The warplane was “intercepted”, the military said in a statement without elaborating. Israel’s Army Radio said the warplane was shot down, may have crashed on the Syrian-held side of the Golan, and that the pilot’s condition was unknown.
However, Syrian state media reported that a Syrian warplane had been “targeted” by Israel and hit while conducting raids in Syrian airspace.
“The Israeli enemy confirms its support for the armed terrorist groups and targets one of our warplanes, which was striking their groups in the area of Saida on the edge of the Yarmouk Basin in Syrian airspace,” the official news agency SANA quoted a military source as saying.
The Israeli military statement said the Syrian plane had crossed 2km into the Israeli side of the Golan, but appeared to acknowledge that its mission was related to the civil war next door.
Read the article in The Australian (Reuters, AFP).