24 July 2018•Update: 24 July 2018
By Abdul Raouf Arnaout and Mohammad Misto
JERUSALEM
Israel’s air defenses shot down a Syrian warplane that violated Israeli airspace over the Golan Heights, according to the Israeli military on Tuesday.
In a statement, the army said two Patriot missiles were fired at the Sukhoi fighter jet after it penetrated two kilometers into Israeli airspace.
The military said the Russian-made jet was under surveillance before entering the Israeli airspace.
It remains unclear where exactly the warplane had crashed and the fate of its pilot.
“The IDF (army) is in high alert and will continue to operate against the violation of the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement,” the army said.
But the Syrian regime, for its part, said the fighter jet was flying in Syrian airspace when it was shot down.
The official SANA news agency, citing a military source, said the warplane was downed over the Yarmouk River valley in southern Syria.
Israel has occupied most of the Syrian Golan Heights since the 1967 Middle East War.
