ISIS publishes photos of alleged Syrian pilot's body
Terror group posts four pictures, one of which showing a mutilated body and three of pieces of metal, some still smouldering; authenticity not immediately verified.
The terror group posted four photos, one of which showing a mutilated body and three of pieces of metal, some still smouldering, on its Nasher news agency site. It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the pictures.
Israel had said it shot down the Syrian warplane after it crossed into the Golan Heights on Tuesday, but Damascus said the jet was fired on as it took part in sorties against rebels within Syria.
A Syrian military source told the Russian news agency Sputnik that Omran Muri was the pilot killed in Israeli attack on the jet.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement on Tuesday on the on the downing of the Sukhoi Su-24 jet.
"Our air defense systems identified a Syrian Air Force jet that took off from the T-4 Syrian Air Force base and penetrated Israeli airspace. This is a gross violation of the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement with Syria," he said.
"I have reiterated and made clear that we will not accept any such violation. We will not accept any such penetration of, or spillover into, our territory, neither on the ground nor in the air. Our forces acted appropriately. We insist that the Syrians strictly abide by the Separation of Forces Agreement between us and them."
A Syrian source said that Damascus has no intention of rushing into a war with Israel following the downing of the warplane, since currently Syria’s main priority is trying to conclude the military operation against terrorist centers in the south of the country, the Lebanese news website Al-Nusra reported.
However, the source warned that the shooting down of the fighter jet will not go unanswered by the regime.
"You will not have to wait long for a response, but we’ll get there in a few steps, firstly we need to finish all the ongoing military operations in the country. The direct response to the Israeli forces will come at an appropriate time. The final step will be thwarting any attempts to remove the Syrian allies from the region.
“In Tel Aviv they are aware that the situation that was before the civil war is different from what will be after. It must be careful not to light the kind of fire that it will not be able to extinguish later. Israel shot down the plane knowing it was a Syrian plane in the Syrian airspace," claimed the source.
Daniel Salami, Attila Somfalvi and Alexandra Lukash contributed to this report.
