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Photo: Reuters
File photo
Photo: Reuters

Syrian air defenses confront 'hostile target' near Damascus

State news agency says there are reports of 'air defenses confronting a hostile target breaching the skies above the area of Deir al-Asha'ir in the Damascus countryside.'

Syrian state media said early on Saturday that air defenses had confronted a "hostile target" breaching Syrian air space west of the capital Damascus.

 

 

State news agency SANA, quoting its correspondent, said there were reports of "air defenses confronting a hostile target breaching the skies above the area of Deir al-Asha'ir in the Damascus countryside."

 

On August 2, Syrian state media reported a similar incident, saying air defense systems intercepted and destroyed an unidentified target in western Damascus. The next day, Syrian sources insisted to Al Mayadeen the target was not Israeli.

 

Fighting between Syrian forces and rebels (Photo: Reuters)
Fighting between Syrian forces and rebels (Photo: Reuters)

 

SANA suggested Israel was to blame for the incursions. "In the past few weeks, the Israeli enemy has attacked military positions," it said.

 

Israel, concerned that Iran's growing presence in Syria poses a threat to its security, has struck dozens of Iranian and Iran-backed positions in Syria over the course of the country's seven-year conflict.

 

A spokeswoman for the IDF said it did not comment on foreign reports.

 

Inlate July, the IDF shot down a Syrian fighter jet that entered Israeli airspace with two Patriot missiles.

 

The IDF 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 two kilometers (1.2 miles).

 

The plane apparently crashed inside Syria, with Sky News Arabic reporting it went down in the Yarmouk area.

 

According to the IDF, the Syrian fighter jet—a Sukhoi Su-24 or an Su-22—took off from the T4 base, which is being used by Iranian forces in Syria and was attacked by Israel several times in the past, and "was advancing towards Israel at a relatively high speed."

 

The IDF said after the incident that "Since morning hours, there has been an increase in the internal fighting in Syria, including an increase in the activity of the Syrian Air Force."

 

"During the day, we identified increased aerial activity in the Quneitra area and in the southern Syrian Golan and sent messages through several channels and in several languages about Israel's security interests, according to which we will not tolerate violations of the 1974 Disengagement Agreements," the army added in a statement.

 


פרסום ראשון: 08.11.18, 09:04
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