Israeli jets attack anti-aircraft battery in Syria in retaliatory strike

Israeli jets have attacked a Syrian government anti-aircraft missile launcher after it fired on its aircraft patrolling in Lebanese air space on a photographic reconnaissance mission, the Israeli military said.

The incident occurred on Monday morning, according to an Israeli military spokesman, who said it was the first time Israeli aircraft had been targeted by Syrian forces while flying over Lebanon since the Syrian war began.

He added that the aircraft were flying inside Lebanon but close to the Syrian border when the missile was fired at them.

According to the spokesman, the missile – an SA5 surface-to-air rocket – failed to hit its target, and the anti-aircraft battery located 30 miles from Damascus was then hit by separate Israeli jets, “incapacitating” the launcher with four strikes.

There was no information on any casualties.

The missile launch is the second time this year Israeli jets have been engaged by Syrian anti-aircraft missiles, with the rocket fired in the previous incident flying into Israel. According to Israel, the same battery that fired on Monday was also involved in that incident.

The exchange of fire came as Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister of Russia – a key ally of Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian regime – was due to arrive in Israel for talks with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials are said to want to raise the issue of what they claim is Iran’s growing presence in Syria as well as weapons transfers by Tehran to the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, a key ally of the Assad regime.

The Israeli military said Russia was informed in “real time” about the incident and the subsequent retaliation in line with an Israeli-Russian arrangement.

“The Syrian regime is responsible for any firing from its territory. We see this incident as a clear provocation and we will not allow it.

If anti-aircraft fire is being carried out for any military activity, we will respond as we did now,” said the Israeli military spokesman.

The Israeli admission that it carried out the strikes on the launcher is unusual in that it rarely comments on operations in Syria, where it has reportedly carried out hundreds of strikes against targets associated with Hezbollah, which has been fighting the Assad regime.

In September, the Israeli military hit a base in Syria that has been associated with the Assad regime’s chemical weapons infrastructure and where Hezbollah reportedly stored missiles.