Israeli jets ‘hit Syrian anti-aircraft battery’ after alleged attack – IDF

Israeli warplanes have bombed a Syrian anti-aircraft battery east of Damascus, the Israeli military said. Syrian forces reportedly fired an anti-aircraft missile at the jets while they were on a spy mission overflying Lebanon.

The battery was reportedly located 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Damascus, Reuters reported citing Israeli military.
The planes, which the Israeli military said were on a “reconnaissance mission,” were not hit.

The Israeli military reportedly hit the Syrian battery with four bombs, leaving it no longer operational.
Israel immediately reported the incident to Russia, accusing the government in Damascus of a “clear provocation,” according to Haaretz, citing the military.
“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,” Haaretz quoted the army spokesperson as saying.
After notifying Russia as part of the air coordination between the two countries, the Israeli Air Force responded two hours after the Syrian missile was fired, according to Israeli paper Maariv, quoting IDF spokesperson Ronen Manlis.
The Israeli warplanes were on “a routine photographic mission,” he added.
According to the Haaretz report, an “Sa5-type missile” was fired at the Israeli aircraft, which is a NATO reporting name for Soviet-designed S-200 surface-to-air missiles.
The Syrian authorities are yet to comment on the strikes. Read more.....

Israel STRIKES Syria After Mortars Were Lobbed Into Golan Heights!

In a swift response to at least ten missiles being launched from Syria that hit inside Israeli territory, the Israel Air Force on Saturday carried out retributive strikes targeting the positions from which the mortars were tracked to have originated.

“Furthermore, the IAF targeted two tanks belonging to the Syrian regime in the Northern Syrian Golan Heights,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement explaining their response. 

Earlier on Saturday, the IDF informed Israeli civilians to stay clear from the border area near Quneitra, which is the small village near the Golan Height’s border close to southern Syria, and falls within a zone formerly disarmed by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). 

The IDF believes that the mortar shells that landed in Israel was most likely rounds that were off target, launched by groups fighting each other across the border in Syria.   Read more.....

UPDATE: Syrian Group Raises Death Toll in Suspected Gas Attack to 58

A suspected chemical attack in a town in Syria’s northern Idlib province killed dozens of people on Tuesday, Syrian opposition activists said, describing the attack as among the worst in the country’s six-year civil war. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group put the death toll at 58, saying there were 11 children among the dead. Meanwhile, the Idlib Media Center said dozens of people had been killed.  Read more....