Israeli jets strike inside Syria; evade anti-aircraft missiles

CNN - The Israeli military has acknowledged it struck several targets inside Syria early Friday morning, an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) spokesperson said in a statement.

کد خبر: ۶۷۷۹۱۹

تاریخ: ۲۷ اسفند ۱۳۹۵ - ۱۰:۳۳

Several anti-aircraft missiles were fired at the Israeli jets, the IDF said, including one missile that was shot down by an "aerial defense system."

The statement denied that the mission put either Israeli civilians, or the aircraft involved, at risk.

"At no point was the safety of Israeli civilians or the IAF aircraft compromised," the statement said, referring to the Israeli Air Force.

Israel has reportedly struck Syria multiple times in the past, often targeting weapons shipments headed for Hezbollah. The IDF rarely acknowledges these strikes, however, making Friday's statement very unusual.

Repeated incursions

In November 2012 Israel fired warning shots toward Syria after a mortar shell hit an Israeli military post, the first time Israel had fired on Syria across the Golan Heights since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Israeli jets have been striking targets in Syria since at least 2013, when US officials told CNN they believed IDF jets had struck targets inside Syrian territory.

A source in the Israeli defense establishment told CNN's Sara Sidner at the time: "We will do whatever is necessary to stop the transfer of weapons from Syria to terrorist organizations. We have done it in the past and we will do it if necessary the future."

Last year the Syrian military claimed to have downed both an Israeli warplane and a drone over the country's southwest. An IDF spokesman called the claim "total lies."

Israeli targets within Syria may have even been as far inside the country as the capital. In 2014 the Syrian government and an opposition group both said that an IDF strike had hit Damascus' suburbs and airport.

The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency characterized the strikes as "a flagrant attack on Syria, targeting two safe areas in (the) Damascus countryside in Dimas and near Damascus International Airport."

Israeli strikes have also targeted ISIS fighters inside Syria. Late last year IDF troops operating in the disputed Golan region came under fire from militants of the ISIS affiliate Khalid ibn al-Walid Army, Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said.

The soldiers fired back, triggering an exchange of gunfire. A subsequent Israeli airstrike destroyed a vehicle carrying four militants, Lerner said.