Israeli warplanes have conducted several raids on Syrian army positions over the past weeks after stray shells hit the Israeli-controlled Golan.
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Syrian state television said the Syrian army shot down an Israeli fighter jet and drone Tuesday morning, a claim swiftly denied by the IDF.
“Our air defenses blocked the attack and shot down the military aircraft in (the southern province of) Quneitra and a drone” in the province of Damascus, said the statement carried by state news agency SANA.
However, the Israeli army has denied the reports, saying Syrian forces fired two land-air missiles but that these did not hit any aircraft.
The situation in the Golan Heights reflects the overall destabilization of the Middle East and the growing terrorist threat that needs to be countered, Russia’s top diplomat said.
The Israeli strike on Syria came hours after a nationwide ceasefire, brokered by the United States and Russian Federation, came into effect in the war-ravaged country. “We proceeded from this in our contacts with the Israeli and Syrian colleagues and other countries of this region”, he added.
Eli Malka, who serves as the head of the Golan Regional Council, said that though the artillery fire from Syria into Golan Heights is not believed to have been intentional, he said “there is no difference between spillover fire and intentional fire – a bomb is a bomb and poses a risk to human life”. “At no point was the safety of IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] aircraft compromised”. A short time later, the Israeli Air Force struck artillery targets belonging to the Syrian army, the army said.
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Israel captured the plateau from Syria in a 1967 war. The United Nations has repeatedly stated that Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights is illegal, calling for it to be returned to Syria.
