Syria shoots down Israel’s attacking F-16 fighter jet; Israel claims to have shot down Iran's Drone

Damascus/Jerusalem: Syrian defence forces claim to have shot down Israel’s F-16 which was carrying out a surgical strike in the Syrian territory. In the meantime, Israel claimed of bringing down an Iranian drone that was launched from the Syrian territory and had entered into the Israeli space. The Israeli army confirmed that its F-16 which was carrying out strikes in the Syrian territory had gone down. The Israeli army said that, ‘Syria and Iran are “playing with fire” and will pay a heavy price’.

An Israeli army personnel claimed that its F-16 fighter jet that had carried out heavy air strikes in Syria on Saturday, was brought down. Syria claimed that a lot of damage were caused by the Israeli attack. It also claims that the anti-aircraft guns of the Syrian defence tracked the F-16 and shot it down. Israeli army spokesman has confirmed the news and also detailed the Israel’s air-attack in Syria.

The Israeli military said that 12 targets were attacked by the F-16. Syrian army’s aerial defence batteries and Iranian army bases in Syria were ‘targets’ for the F-16. Brigadier General Ronen Manelis, Spokesman of the Israeli military said that even though the fighter was downed, both the pilots ejected and safely landed over northern Israeli territory with parachutes. Thus, Israel seems to have officially agreed to have carried out attacks in Syria. Israeli forces have further claimed that in future also Israel will not hesitate to carry out such attacks in Syria.

We shot down an Iranian drone coming from Syrian airspace, flying into the Israeli limits, the Israeli military said. The downed drone is in our possession, said the Israeli military spokesman. Brigadier General Ronen Manelis has given a strong warning to Syria and Iran against this backdrop. “Both these countries are playing with fire. Iran is pushing the whole region towards doom by its belligerence. However, Iran does not know now how to come out of this quagmire and thus, this country is in a fix,” the General added.

In the meantime, Israel had launched attacks since the past few months on the Iranian and Hezbollah bases located in Syria. Israeli PM had warned that, ‘In future too, Israel will take action against the activities in Syria which are against the security of Israel’. To which Syria responded by saying that such attacks will be strongly retaliated.

Against this backdrop, there was news of Israel’s ‘F-16’ being shot down by the Syrian military on Saturday; and Israel bringing down the Iranian drones was declared by Israel. Thus, the Syrian struggle which was hitherto up to a limited extent, has escalated, come into the open and is slowly transforming into war between Syria, Iran and Israel. This will result into a grave situation in the near future, as per Israel’s indications.