Israeli F-16 fighter jet shot down by Syrian air defense

DAMASCUS – The Syrian army’s air defense on Saturday shot down an Israeli F-16 fighter after confronting a new Israeli aggression against one of the military bases.

According to Syria’s state media, “Israeli enemy on Saturday dawn launched a new aggression against one of the military bases in the central area, and the army air defense confronted the aggression and hit more than one aircraft”.

However, the Israeli army claimed that the fighter jet faced anti-aircraft fire on a raid to destroy Iranian facilities, allegedly being used for carrying out drone attacks in its territory.

The Israel army says, the pilots forced to abandon an F-16 jet that crashed in the Jezreel valley in northern Israel. The pilots suffered injuries and shifted to hospital for medical treatment.

Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said on Twitter that Iran was “responsible for this severe violation of Israeli sovereignty”.

“IDF (Israel Defence Forces) has targeted the Iranian control systems in Syria that sent the [unmanned aircraft] into Israeli airspace. Massive Syrian anti-air fire, one F16 crashed in Israel, pilots safe,” Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said on Twitter on Saturday.

https://twitter.com/LTCJonathan/status/962191487806201856

According to a separate military statement, Israeli forces had "intercepted an Iranian UAV launched from Syria over Israeli airspace".

https://twitter.com/LTCJonathan/status/962182621261369344

The Israeli military refused Syria's claim of hitting more than one plane.

Israel’s chief military spokesman, Brigadier General Ronen Manelis, said Iran is directly held responsible for the incident.

“This is a serious Iranian attack on Israeli territory. Iran is dragging the region into an adventure in which it doesn’t know how it will end,” he said. “Whoever is responsible for this incident is the one who will pay the price.”