Israel downs Syrian jet over Golan Heights

JERUSALEM — Israel shot down a Syrian fighter jet Tuesday after it penetrated Israelicontrolled airspace over the Golan Heights, the military said, a rare encounter that underscored the heightened risk of confrontation in the area.

As Syrian government forces advance to retake areas long held by rebels along the frontier with Israel, the military said it fired two Patriot surface-to-air missiles at the plane.

The downing of the jet, which crashed on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, was only the second time during the 7-yearold Syrian war that Israel had intercepted a warplane. The first was in 2014.

Israeli forces were on alert for any possible Syrian retaliation. But Syria, which has long been in a state of war with Israel, has so far avoided fighting on the Israeli front, focusing instead on its internal enemies and largely maintaining the truce with Israel that has held since 1974.

According to initial, unconfirmed reports from Syria, it was a Sukhoi 24 with a two-man crew. One pilot was said to have been killed; the fate of the other was unknown.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, said the jet had taken off from an air base near Palmyra in Syria, “flew at relatively high speed” toward Israel and had penetrated about 1.2 miles into Israeli airspace before two missiles took it down.