Israel Denies Syria Claim That It Downed 2 Israeli Aircraft
JERUSALEM, Israel -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied on Tuesday that any of its aircraft were hit by Syrian missiles. But the IDF did confirm that two surface-to-air missiles were launched at Israeli aircraft from Syrian territory.
"At no point was the safety of IDF aircraft compromised," the IDF said in a statement.
Israeli aircraft targeted artillery positions of the Syrian regime in the central Syrian Golan Heights after a "projectile" hit Israel.
It was the fourth time in a week that mortar shells or other devices presumably strayed into Israel from internal fighting in Syria along Israel's northern border.
Syria claimed it had downed an Israeli aircraft and a drone, at least one near Quneitra, near the border with the Israeli Golan Heights.
According to the Syrian news agency SANA, the General Command of the Army and the Armed Forces said in a statement that the "Syrian air defense forces responded to the attack and shot down an Israeli warplane to the southwest of Quneitra and an Israeli drone to the west of Sa'sa' town in the southwestern countryside of Damascus."
Israel has been clear that it's not seeking a confrontation with any of the parties fighting in Syria, where a civil war has consumed the country for more than five years, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and millions more homeless.
However, it has said that it holds the Syrian regime responsible for any mortars or missiles fired at Syria and would respond to attacks against its territory.
