[ad_1]
Jerusalem – Israel announced Tuesday that it had shot down a Syrian fighter plane that had entered the airspace it controls, a version denied by Damascus at the time, claiming that the aircraft was conducting anti-jihadist operations in southern Syria. .
Israel has been on the alert since the June 19 launch by Bashar al-Assad's regime and its allies of an offensive to retake rebel areas in the Syrian provinces of Deraa and Quneitra (south). near the part of the Golan Heights occupied and annexed by Israel.
Jonathan Conricus, spokesman for the Israeli army, said at a press conference that the plane, " a Sukhoi 22 or 24 ", had been " hit after penetrating 2 km "into Israeli-controlled airspace in the occupied southern Golan.
In a statement issued shortly before, the army said it had fired " Patriot missiles in the direction " of the aircraft and have it " intercepted ", term that she uses to say that the target was shot down.
" The plane crashed in the southern part of the Syrian Golan Heights ," said Jonathan Conricus.
In Syria, a military source quoted by the official Sana agency gave another version: according to her, Israel actually fired at a Syrian fighter plane that was carrying out operations against the jihadists in the south of Syria.
– " Israeli Enemy " –
The regime's forces, which managed to take the majority of the country's south-west territories from rebels, now encircle a sector held by the state group Islamic Republic (IS) near the Golan Heights and the demilitarized buffer zone that pbades through it, created by an agreement in 1974, one year after the Arab-Israeli war of 1973.
The Damascus regime has long accused Israel of supporting the EI and other opposition groups.
" The Israeli enemy confirmed to have adopted armed terrorist groups, and targeted one of our planes that was hitting their positions in the Saïda sector (…) in Syrian airspace "said the Syrian military source, who did not say whether the plane had been hit or shot.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu justified the operation in a statement, describing the incident as " clear violation of the 1974 separation agreement ".
" We will not accept any intrusion on our territory neither aerial nor terrestrial ," he added.
The spokesman of the army, Jonathan Conricus, badured that " the incident " was closed but that the Israeli forces " of course remained on high alert " .
He did not specifically say whether Russia, an ally of Damascus, had been informed before the plane was shot down, but baderted that " many conversations and communications " were initiated after that Israel has found " high intensity aerial activity in the area ".
Neighboring countries, Israel and Syria have never concluded a peace treaty. Israel seized most of the Syrian Golan Heights in 1967, which it annexed in 1981. This annexation has never been recognized by the international community.
– " Criminal Operation " –
While being careful not to be drawn into the conflict in Syria, Israel has repeatedly hit this country, particularly against positions of the Damascus regime and some of its allies, the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iran.
On Monday, the Israeli army announced that it had fired two rockets fired from Syria with its new anti-missile system " Fronde de David ".
Israel has repeatedly asked that Iran, its pet peeve, withdraw its military from Syria.
During a meeting in Jerusalem between Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday, Russia proposed that Iranian forces be kept at a distance of 100 km from the Golan Heights , according to an Israeli official.
The Hebrew State also announced on Sunday that it had proceeded, at the request of Western countries, to the evacuation to Jordan of hundreds of White Helmets and their family members, stranded in the south-west of Syria the progress of the regime.
These volunteers became famous for their relief operations in rebel bombed areas but the regime of Bashar al-Assad and its allies consider them linked to jihadist groups.
The Syrian authorities also blasted the evacuations carried out by Israel as a " criminal operation ".
Source link
