Updated 11:59 a.m. Moscow Time
TEL-AVIV, September 23 (RIA Novosti) – Israel's air defense forces have downed a Syrian plane that violated the country’s airspace, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday.
"The aircraft was intercepted in the air by the Patriot air and missile defense system," the spokesperson said.
The make of aircraft is unknown, but Israel's army radio network Galatz reported that it could be a Soviet-made MiG-21 supersonic fighter jet. The plane was intercepted over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
A similar situation occurred in late August, when Israel military shot down a drone that flew into Israeli-controlled airspace from Syria near the Quneitra border crossing between the Golan Heights and Syria.
Fighting from the Syrian civil war has occasionally spilled over into Israeli-controlled areas of the Golan Heights, which was captured from Syria by the Israelis during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
Earlier in August, the Israel Defense Forces hit Syrian targets after an Israeli officer in the Golan Heights was injured by apparent stray fire from Syria as rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar Assad fought for control of the Quneitra crossing.
