Israel returns fire at battery within Syria

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said it struck and destroyed an anti-aircraft battery deep in Syria on Monday after it had opened fire on Israeli jets flying over Lebanon — a rare incident of Syrian forces targeting Israeli planes since the civil war began in 2011.

The strike came as Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, was visiting Israel. Moscow is one of the staunchest supporters of the Syrian government, and Russian forces have helped President Bashar Assad’s troops score significant victories in the war.

Israeli military spokesman

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Israeli planes were on a routine reconnaissance mission near the Lebanese-syrian border when they came under fire. They were not hit and returned to base safely.

In response, Israel hit a Syrian anti-aircraft battery about

30 miles east of Damascus and “incapacitated” it, he said. Antiaircraft fire has been deployed before against Israeli jets since the civil war began in 2011, but it is rare.

In March, Syria fired missiles at Israeli warplanes on a mission to destroy a weapons convoy destined for the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, prompting Israel to deploy its missile defense system.

Russian forces in Syria were notified in real time, Conricus said, adding that Israel holds Syria responsible for any attack from its territory.

Israel largely has stayed out of the fighting in neighboring Syria, but it has carried out dozens of airstrikes on alleged weapons convoys bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon. It also occasionally has carried out limited reprisals along its frontier with

Syria in the Golan Heights, after spillover of Syria’s fighting.

Conricus said Israel has no interest in destabilizing the situation but says the military will “preserve our ability to act and thwart” any hostile activity against it.

The Syrian army denounced the Israeli strike as a hostile act and said in a statement that the Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace from the direction of eastern Lebanon.

“The General Command of the Army and Armed Forces warns of the dangerous repercussions of these repeated hostile attempts by Israel,” the Syrian military said.