Syria fires on Israeli jets after air strikes

Governments at odds over fate of plane that Damascus says took part in mission of ‘blatant aggression’ against its forces

JERUSALEM // Syria fired missiles at Israeli warplanes yesterday after a series of Israeli air strikes inside Syria. Both sides confirmed the exchange which, although rare, now threatens to escalate tensions in the region.

Damascus said Syrian anti-aircraft systems confronted the planes and shot one of them down over Israeli- controlled territory and hit another.

The Israeli military denied the claim and said there was no sign that any of their jets were damaged.

The Israeli military claimed its aircraft struck several targets in Syria and were back in Israeli- controlled airspace when anti- aircraft missiles were launched from Syria towards them.

Israel said its defences intercepted one missile, but the army would not say if any others struck Israeli-held territory.

It said the safety of Israeli civilians and Israeli aircraft was “not compromised”.

The incident set off sirens in Jewish settler communities in the Jordan Valley, part of the West Bank.

The firing of missiles from Syria towards Israeli aircraft is very rare, although Israel reported a shoulder-fired missile a few months ago.

The Syrian military said four Israeli warplanes breached its airspace, flying into Syria over Lebanese territory, and targeted a military position in central Syria.

Syrian said the “blatant aggression” was an attempt by Israel to support “terrorist gangs” of ISIL inside Syria and “deflect from the victories” of the Syrian army in the country’s civil war, which this week entered its seventh year.

Israeli Channel 10 TV claimed that Israel deployed its Arrow defence system for the first time and hit a missile.

The aircraft were deployed on a mission to destroy a weapons convoy destined for the Lebanese Hizbollah group, which is backed by Iran and which fights with Syrian government forces. There was no comment from Hizbollah.

Jordan, which borders Israel and Syria, said parts of the missiles fell in its rural northern areas, including Irbid district.

A chunk of missile crashed into the yard of a home in the community of Inbeh in Jordan, about 40 kilometres from the Syrian border.

Resident Umm Bilal Al Khatib thought the noise was an exploding gas cylinder. When she went outside she found a small crater and a three-metre-long cylinder. Jordanian authorities removed the debris.

Arrow was designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles high in the stratosphere, so it was unclear why the system was used.

Israel has been largely unaffected by the Syrian civil war, suffering only sporadic spillover fire it dismissed as tactical errors by the Syrian army. Any retaliation on Syrian positions by Israel for errant fire has been limited. However, Israel is believed to have carried out air raids on advanced weapons systems in Syria – including Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles and Iranian-made missiles – as well as Hizbollah positions, but rarely confirmed such operations.