“At no point was the safety of IDF aircraft compromised”, he said.
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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.
The Israeli Air Force struck cannons belonging to the Syrian regime late Tuesday evening in response to a number of mortar rounds that fell into Golan Heights just hours earlier, according to a military statement.
A senior level official from the Syrian Army commented on the Israeli Air Force (IAF) attack and accused Israel of trying to escalate the situation along the mutual border.
The Syrian army said Tuesday it shot down an Israeli warplane over the southern province of Qunaitera, but Israel denied, local media reported.
An Israeli tank drives during training in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, near the border with Syria, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016.
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The statement followed shortly after claims by the Syrian Defense Ministry saying their “air defenses downed a military jet southwest of Quneitra and a reconnaissance aircraft west of Sasa town”. A drone was also shot down as well nearby.
In light of the increased errant fire hitting the Golan Heights, the United States embassy in Israel urged American citizens “to carefully consider and possibly defer travel to that area until the situation stabilizes”.
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They said it followed ‘naked aggression by the Zionist enemy supporting armed terrorist groups in a desperate attempt to raise morale that collapsed after heavy losses incurred in the Quneitra region’.
