Syria says it fired on Israeli aircraft

[Cheetah786]

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syrian air defenses opened fire on Israeli aircraft that violated Syrian airspace, a Syrian military spokesman said Thursday The Israelis broke the sound barrier and "dropped ammunition" over deserted areas of northern Syria overnight, the spokesman was quoted by the official Syrian Arab News Agency.

"We warn the Israeli enemy government against this flagrant aggressive act, and retain the right to respond in an appropriate way," the Syrian spokesman said.

It was not clear if Syria was accusing the Israelis of using warplanes or some type of other aircraft such as drones.

"The Israeli enemy aircraft infiltrated into the Arab Syrian territory through the northern border, coming from the Mediterranean heading toward the eastern region, breaking the sound barrier," the spokesman said. "Air defense units confronted them and forced them to leave after they dropped some ammunition in deserted areas without causing any human or material damage."

Israel's army said it was looking into the report.

Israel acknowledges flying over Lebanon routinely, but it is unclear how often its aircraft fly over Syria.

At the beginning of last summer's war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, Israeli warplanes buzzed the palace of Syrian President Bashar Assad in what analysts called a warning to Damascus. They also flew over Assad's summer home in the coastal city of Latakia, after Syrian-backed Palestinian militants in Gaza captured a young Israeli soldier.

Syria says it fired on Israeli aircraft - Yahoo! News

 

[mustang]

Had it be shot down it would have made great sparks ... in the world powers ...

 

[solid snake]

How did the airplane escape? SAMs should be more reliable than this.

 

[ARSENAL6]

How did the airplane escape? SAMs should be more reliable than this.

take note, what mustang said theres is a hint there, solid snake.

 

[EagleEyes]

After the meeting with the Israeli officials. This should no longer occur again.

 

[solid snake]

take note, what mustang said theres is a hint there, solid snake.

It's pretty useless to fire a SAM which you don't want to hit it's target. If any planes are intruding into your airspace with such blatant disregard for your sovereignty, they should be brought down.

 

[Cheetah786]

Israel's alleged incursion into Syrian skies last week included a strike on what was likely to have been Iranian arms transferred to the country, CNN reported on Tuesday afternoon. According to the news network, a ground operation was also part of the overall foray CNN claimed that the operation was largely aerial but also had comprised of ground components, left "a great hole in the desert." Although CNN did not cite a specific source, the network gave credence to "US government officials." The report said the IAF targets were likely to be weaponry delivered by Syria which was intended for the use of Hizbullah.

Keeping with its policy of not commenting on the alleged flyover of Syrian territory, senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office refused to comment on the CNN report. Syria denied that ground troops had participated in the alleged operation.

Syria complained to the United Nations about Israeli "aggression," saying Israeli warplanes dropped munitions in Syria, the country's ambassador to the UN said.

Syria's UN ambassador, Bashar al-Jaafari, said Damascus made its complaint in two letters to the UN secretary general and the president of the Security Council. The letters said the Israeli action also was in violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement that was reached after the Yom Kippur War.

The letters warned that "continuing to disregard denunciation of this act could result in consequences that no one knows its limits," according to al-Jaafari. He said Syria awaits a stand from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "that would hold Israel responsible and demands that it ceases" such acts.

"They were fleeing and in order to speed up the planes they dropped the munitions," he said, speaking to The Associated Press from New York.

He said he had no further details on the incident, but denied news reports that Israel had landed troops on the ground inside Syria. "This is absolutely not true," saying the reports were an attempt to show that Israel could land troops wherever it wants.

"Israel is seeking military escalation. We are exerting efforts so that we don't fall into this trap. We are dealing with the matter with utmost keenness, precision and responsibility," he added.

Further, the report said the US was pleased with the alleged sortie, which it said, sent a "clear message" to the region.

Earlier Tuesday, a planned visit by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al Moallem to Saudi Arabia has been cancelled, Israel Radio reported.

Syrian sources told the Hizbullah owned TV station Al Manar that "a visit was never planned, and therefore its cancellation makes no sense."

Reportedly, the Syrian foreign minister was expected to give King Abdullah in Jeddah a missive from the Syrian president.

It was unclear whether Moallem was invited by Saudi Arabia and the invitation was withdrawn, or whether Syria initiated a meeting with the Persian Gulf state.

On Sunday, Moallem visited Turkey where he presented "evidence" of the alleged IAF foray; the planned visit to Riyadh - flatly denied by Damascus - could have been planned for a similar purpose.

Saudi Arabian-Syrian relations cooled off since the Second Lebanon War, when the Saudis condemned Hizbullah, backed by Syria, for hijacking IDF soldiers - the event that led Israel to retaliate.

'IAF and ground troops targeted Iranian weapons in Syria' | Jerusalem Post

 

[EagleEyes]

Israel hit Syrian base financed by Iran: report

JERUSALEM, Sept 12(AFP): Israeli warplanes last week bombed and destroyed a northern Syrian missile base that was financed by Iran, an Arab Israeli newspaper alleged in a report on Wednesday. Citing anonymous Israeli sources, the Assennara newspaper said Israeli jets “bombed in northern Syria a Syrian-Iranian missile base financed by Iran…” Syria on Tuesday lodged a formal complaint with the United Nations over the flagrant violation of its airspace last Thursday, during which it said its air defences opened fire on Israeli warplanes flying over the northeast of the country. Israeli officials have refused to comment on the report, as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert “specifically instructed ministers not to talk about the incident. (Posted @ 11:41 PST)

-Dawn

Interesting development.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

There is a report that said that Israeli Air Force targeted a Syrian atomic facility!

 

[A.Rahman]

As of mid 2006 Syria received KBM Strelets multiple launch units for Igla and Igla-S (SA-18). They also have S-200s (SA-5) together with Volga-M (SA-2) and S-125 Pechora (SA-3).

The Pantsyr-S1E have begun to be delivered, I don't know if they are operational yet. This could be the Israelis testing the new defenses.

 

[A.Rahman]

There is a report that said that Israeli Air Force targeted a Syrian atomic facility!

yea I read it too.

Citing anonymous Israeli sources, an Arab Israeli newspaper, the Assennara, said on Wednesday that the jets "bombed in northern Syria a Syrian-Iranian missile base financed by Iran.... It appears that the base was completely destroyed."

 

[A.Rahman]

Israel hit Syrian base financed by Iran: report

JERUSALEM, Sept 12(AFP): Israeli warplanes last week bombed and destroyed a northern Syrian missile base that was financed by Iran, an Arab Israeli newspaper alleged in a report on Wednesday. Citing anonymous Israeli sources, the Assennara newspaper said Israeli jets “bombed in northern Syria a Syrian-Iranian missile base financed by Iran…” Syria on Tuesday lodged a formal complaint with the United Nations over the flagrant violation of its airspace last Thursday, during which it said its air defences opened fire on Israeli warplanes flying over the northeast of the country. Israeli officials have refused to comment on the report, as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert “specifically instructed ministers not to talk about the incident. (Posted @ 11:41 PST)

-Dawn

 

[ARSENAL6]

It's pretty useless to fire a SAM which you don't want to hit it's target. If any planes are intruding into your airspace with such blatant disregard for your sovereignty, they should be brought down.

well thats it SS, i know what you're trying to say and yes you are right
but imagine if it did get shot down by purpose Syria will get the full force of the US power on them
so avoid escalation (in which the US is so itching to invade Syria ) Syria just made a mere miss at the mo.

There is a report that said that Israeli Air Force targeted a Syrian atomic facility!

Tune in next time when Israel bombs a cloaking device facility in Palestine.

 

[haviZsultan]

Syria says not planning a military response to IAF air strike

By Haaretz Staff and News Agencies

The Syrian deputy foreign minister said Friday that Damascus is not planning a military response, a week after claiming that Israel Air Force warplanes bombed targets in its territory. (Click here for map).

Damascus announced last Thursday that IAF jets had violated its airspace, and had been fired upon by Syrian air defenses. Israel has refused to make any comment about the incident.

But Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad warned after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Friday that growing tension could spark a violent outbreak in the region, and that Syria has the "means to respond in ways that will preserve its position of power."

European diplomats who met with Syrian Vice President Walid Moallem earlier this week had told Haaretz that they had received the impression that Syria would not retaliate militarily.

The Reuters news agency reported Wednesday that U.S. officials had confirmed that an IAF air strike against Syria, but would not discuss the intended targets.

The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said North Korea may be using Syria and Iran as "safe havens" for its nuclear activity.

Syria protested Tuesday to the United Nations about the strike, but has said that no targets had been struck and that there was no damage.

According to Syria's envoy to the United Nations, Bashar al-Jaafari, the proterst complained of Israel's "aggression and violation of [Syrian] sovereignty."

Al-Jaafari said the complaint came in two letters to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the president of the Security Council. The letters said the IAF had violated the disengagement agreement reached after the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

The envoy said Wednesday that Damascus was reserving the right to determine the timing and manner of its response to the incident.

"The Syrian response has not yet come," said Bashar al-Jaafari, in an interview with BBC Arabic.

Al-Jaafari said Israel had violated Syrian air space and dropped munitions. But he denied reports that Israel had landed troops inside Syria.

"This is absolutely not true," he said, adding that the reports were an attempt to show that Israel could land troops wherever it wants.

The only countries that have expressed solidarity with Syria are Iran and North Korea. Russia issued a condemnation of sorts.

 

[haviZsultan]

The more I read about this the more I am getting confused... did the planes hit the "targets" or not and were there any casualities?

Some sources say that nothing was destroyed while some claim that a whole misile base was destroyed! Which one would be true?

Also there are different claims about what was destroyed! Some say it was a North Korean Nuclear Site while some say that its was just a cache of Iranian weapons meant for Hezbollah. Both look like stupid theories to me...