Israel loses jet fighter, attacks Iranian targets in Syria

An Israeli fighter jet, under fire from Syrian anti-aircraft batteries, crashed Saturday as Israel mounted a heavy military response to what it said was the incursion of its airspace by an Iranian drone.

Two Israeli pilots were injured — one seriously — after abandoning their F-16 over northern Israel while taking part in what the Israeli military called a “largescale attack” on at least a dozen Iranian targets in Syria.

The drone, which Israel said was launched from Syria, was shot down by an Israeli helicopter after what the military called a “severe and irregular violation of Israeli sovereignty.”

Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said Israeli forces were “fully prepared for further action.”

“Syrians are playing with fire when they allow Iranians to attack Israel,” Conricus warned.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman were convening a meeting at military headquarters in Tel Aviv to discuss a further response.

In conversations Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Netanyahu said that “Israel will defend itself from any attack and any attempt to hurt our sovereignty,” The Jerusalem Post reports.

“Iran attempted to do that today, it violated our sovereignty, it inserted its drone into Israeli space from Syria,” he said.

Gen. Hossein Salami, acting commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, did not acknowledge Israel’s claim it shot down the drone. “We do not confirm any such news from Israel,” he said. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasem called the Israeli claim “ridiculous.”

But the joint operations room for the Syrian military and its allies denied the drone violated Israeli airspace, saying it was on a regular mission gathering intelligence on Islamic State militants, according to the Associated Press.

Syria’s Defense Ministry said in statements on its website that its air defenses responded successfully to the Israeli operation and hit more than one plane. “The Israeli enemy has once again attacked some of our military bases in the southern area and our air defenses responded and foiled the aggression,” it said.