Israel Air Force fighter planes operating in Lebanon were targeted by Syrian anti-aircraft fire on Monday morning, 21 Tishrei 5776. This resulted in an IAF retaliation, firing at the anti-aircraft battery, located 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Damascus.

IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Israeli planes were on a routine reconnaissance mission near the Lebanese-Syrian border when they came under fire. They were not hit. The SA-5 battery was “incapacitated” at about 10:00am. All jets returned to safely to their bases.

This was the first such incident of Syrian forces targeting Israeli planes since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

Russian forces in Syria were notified in real time, Conricus said, adding that Israel holds Syria responsible for any attack from its territory.

Israel has largely stayed out of the fighting in Syria but it has carried out dozens of airstrikes on alleged arms shipments bound for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. It has also occasionally carried out limited reprisals along its frontier with Syria in the Golan Heights, after spillover of Syria’s fighting.

But such a strike deep in Syrian territory is highly unusual.

Conricus said Israel has no interest in destabilizing the situation but says the military will “preserve our ability to act and thwart” any hostile activity against it.

(AP / YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)