DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Syrian army said its air defense system hit an Israeli jet that infiltrated the Syrian airspace Monday morning.
The general command of the Syrian army said in a statement that the system was triggered by the Zionist regime’s warplanes that infiltrated the Syrian airspace from the Lebanese territory, adding that the air defenses confronted the jets, hitting one directly, and pushing the others to flee.
Hours later, the Zionist troops fired multiple rockets from inside the occupied-territories, targeting a Syrian military site in the countryside of Damascus, leaving only damages.
The general command warned of the "dangerous repercussions of the repetitive aggressive attempts from Israel," stressing the Syrian army's resolve to continue the fight against the terrorist groups in Syria, naming them "the hand of Israel in the region."
However, the Zionist regime’s military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus said no Zionist planes were hit. The counter-strike took place two hours later and "incapacitated” the anti-aircraft unit located 50 km (30 miles) east of Damascus, he said.
"We know according to our intelligence it was a battery controlled by the Syrian regime and we hold the Syrian regime responsible for the fire,” Conricus said.
Over two hours later, the Zionist regime launched several missiles that allegedly hit a military position in the Damascus countryside and only caused material damage, the Syrian army said, warning the Zionist against the "grave consequences of repeated aggressive attempts.”
Syria and the Zionist regime, while old enemies, have rarely traded blows directly since a 1974 ceasefire ended their last conventional war.
Monday’s incident was additionally unusual given its publication by the Zionist regime, which rarely gives details on its air force activities over Lebanon and Syria.
Such missions in Syria have increased dramatically during the country’s six-and-a-half-year-old civil war, Zionist officials say. All efforts, they say, are made to avoid accidental clashes with Russian forces helping Damascus beat back insurgents.