Israel shoots down Syrian fighter jet

A picture taken on July 23, 2018 from the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights shows a warplane dropping a payload in the southwestern Syrian province of Daraa during a Syrian-government-led offensive in the area. Israel said on July 24 that it had shot down a Syrian fighter jet that crossed over the Golan Heights border into Israeli airspace by 1.2 miles.

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BEIRUT — Israel shot down a Syrian fighter jet it said had breached its airspace on Tuesday, as Syrian forces reached the Golan Heights frontier for the first time in seven years. The Israeli military said it monitored the advance of the Syrian Sukhoi fighter jet and shot it down with a pair of Patriot missiles after it penetrated Israeli airspace by about 1.2 miles.

Syrian forces have been battling rebels and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants at the frontier with Israel in recent weeks.

Tuesday marked the first time government forces reached the border fence with the U.N.’s Disengagement Observer Force at the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

It was the first time Israel shot down a Syrian jet in four years.

Israel’s military said there had been an increase in internal fighting in Syria since the morning hours, including intensified activity by the Syrian Air Force.

Minutes before the reported shootdown, Syria’s state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV was broadcasting footage from the fence demarcating the U.N. buffer zone between Syrian and Israeli forces inside the Golan Heights. A U.N. observer post could be seen just on the other side of the fence.

The camera showed an Israeli post 440 yards away.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967. The U.N. deployed a peacekeeping force between the two sides in 1974.

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A picture taken on July 23, 2018 from the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights shows an explosion caused by air strikes backing a Syrian-government-led offensive in the southwestern province of Daraa, as anti-aircraft countermeasures are fired back from the ground.

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It is the first time government forces have taken up positions along the frontier since an uprising against President Bashar Assad swept through the country in 2011. ISIS militants later seized territory from rebels along the frontier region.

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