Daily Express

Israel shoots down Syria warplane

- By Frances Millar

ISRAEL shot down a Syrian warplane flying over its airspace yesterday, killing the pilot.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said two Patriot missiles were fired at the Russian-made Syrian Sukhoi fighter jet, said to be a mile inside the Jewish state’s border in the Golan Heights.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and still occupies the area.

Syria claimed its jet was flying inside its own airspace during an operation against “terrorist groups” when it was hit by Israeli fire.

Israel last intercepte­d a Syrian jet four years ago. The new incident raises the risk of military escalation between the two long-time Middle East foes.

In recent weeks Russianbac­ked Syrian forces have been battling rebels and Islamic State militants near the Israeli border to retake parts of the south that were lost during the civil war.

Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said the plane was Syrian, not Russian.

He said: “The only thing we know about the aircraft is that it crashed, most likely in the southern part of the Syrian Golan Heights.”

The IDF said it was on “high alert” following “an increase in the internal fighting in Syria” and greater activity by Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s air force.

The day before the jet was shot down, Israel used its David’s Sling missile defence system for the first time when two Syrian surface-tosurface missiles seemed to approach its airspace.

 ??  ?? A Sukhoi SU-33 in flight. Israel said the Syrian fighter jet was in its airspace in the Golan Heights when it was shot down yesterday, killing the pilot
A Sukhoi SU-33 in flight. Israel said the Syrian fighter jet was in its airspace in the Golan Heights when it was shot down yesterday, killing the pilot

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