Majadele
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Majadele: IAF regularly flies over Syria
In first comment by Israeli official on Israel's alleged violation of Syrian airspace Friday, minister says incident not likely to trigger war with Syria
Minister Raleb Majadele said Friday that the Israel Air Force enters Syria's airspace on a daily basis, and estimated that the recent plane incident
would not prompt a war with Syria, Nazareth-based al-Sinara newspaper reported.
According to the minister, the Israeli aircraft possibly entered the Syrian airspace by mistake.
On Thursday Syrian. Minister Bussaina Shaaban told al-Jazeera that Israeli aircraft "dropped bombs on an empty area while our air defenses were firing heavily at them.
"They intervened in our airspace... which they should not do -- we are a sovereign country and they should not come into airspace," he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday evening chose to keep silent on the unusual incident with Syria reported earlier in the day.
Olmert delivered a speech at a Kadima ceremony ahead of the Jewish New Year, and many of the attendees had expected him to address the Syrian report that an Israeli aircraft violated its airspace on Wednesday night. Instead, the prime minister referred to other security issues.
