An Israeli F16 warplane was downed by "massive" Syrian anti-aircraft fire after an Israeli combat helicopter shot down an Iranian drone that entered its airspace from Syria, the spokesman for the Israeli military said Saturday.
An Israeli army statement said that the Iranian attack and Syrian response were a ”severe and irregular violation of Israeli sovereignty” and that it was ”monitoring events and fully prepared for further action.”
The Israeli pilots were safe and were evacuated to a hospital for treatment. Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said Israel targeted a military post and Syrian air defenses hit more than one plane. There were no immediate reports of Syrian casualties.
Israel targeted Iranian control systems in Syria that sent the drone into Israeli airspace, an Israeli army statement said, putting responsibility on Iran for the violation of Israel’s sovereignty.
Explosions were heard along the Lebanese-Syrian border, Lebanon’s official National News Agency said. In Israel, air raid sirens went off in the Israeli-controlled area of the Golan Heights.
The Syrian government has repeatedly accused Israel of attacking military sites on its soil. Israeli officials have warned that they will not let Syria become an Iranian base and will intercept weapons shipments bound for Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Iran and allied militias have fought alongside government troops against rebels and Islamist factions in the seven-year civil war.
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