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Israel shoots down Syrian fighter jet that infiltrated airspace: army
JERUSALEM, July 24, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Israel shot down a Syrian fighter jet
with surface-to-air missiles on Tuesday after the plane infiltrated its
airspace, the military said, a rare incident that could provoke tensions.
“A short while ago, two Patriot missiles were launched at a Syrian Sukhoi
fighter jet that infiltrated into Israeli airspace,” the Israeli Defence
Forces said in a statement.
“The IDF monitored the advance of the fighter jet, which infiltrated about
two kilometres (1.24 miles) into Israeli airspace. It was then intercepted by
the Patriot missiles.”
It was the first time Israel shot down a manned Syrian fighter jet since
2014.
The army said there had been an increase in “internal fighting in Syria,”
including involving the air force, since the morning hours.
It said it was on “high alert and will continue to operate against the
breach” of a 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two countries.
Israel has been stressing for weeks that it would enforce the ceasefire
between it and Syria amid a Russian-backed government offensive in the
country’s south.
Tuesday’s incident comes a day after Israel’s air defences fired at Syrian
rockets it feared could hit its territory. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu also met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Jerusalem on
Monday to discuss the Syrian conflict.
Israel seized 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles) of the Golan
Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six Day war, in a move never recognised
internationally.
Israel has been on high alert since June 19, when Syrian government forces
launched the Russia-backed offensive to retake Quneitra and Daraa and
provinces, adjacent respectively to the Israeli-held section of the Golan and
to Jordan.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1802 hrs