Syrian fighter jet shot down by Israel over Golan Heights

SYRIA - Israel’s military says it has shot down a Syrian warplane that entered its airspace, and that the plane crashed on the Syrian-held side of the Golan Heights. The military said in a statement that two Patriot missiles were launched at a Syrian Sukhoi fighter jet, which it said had flown about 2 kilometres into skies above Israel. “It was shot down and it crashed,” Israeli military spokesman LieutenantColonel Jonathan Conricus told reporters. “We do not have any information so far about the pilots. I do not know of any reports of parachutes being spotted, and we do not know if any pilots have been retrieved.” He confirmed that the plane was Syrian, not Russian. “The only thing we know about the aircraft is that it crashed, most likely in the southern part of the Syrian Golan Heights,” he said. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and still occupies the area. The United Nations deployed a peacekeeping force between the two sides in 1974.

Syrian forces have been battling rebels and Islamic State militants at the frontier with Israel in recent weeks. Tuesday marked the first time government forces reached the border fence with the UN’s Disengagement Observer Force at the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. “Since morning hours, there has been an increase in the internal fighting in Syria, including an increase in the activity of the Syrian Air Force,” the Israeli army statement said. It was the first time Israel shot down a Syrian jet in four years.

(The Guardian)