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Damascus, Syria: Syrian air defenses opened fire on Israeli aircraft after they violated Syrian airspace overnight Thursday, a Syrian military spokesman said, in a new development in cross-border tensions that have brewed for months.
The Israelis broke the sound barrier and "dropped ammunition" over deserted areas of northern Syria overnight, the spokesman was quoted as saying by the official Syrian Arab News Agency.
The Syrians did not say the aircraft struck targets, and it was not clear what the spokesman meant by dropping ammunition. Warplanes sometimes drop extra fuel tanks to make the aircraft lighter and easier to maneuver.
"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, speaking
on customary condition of anonymity.
Israel's army and prime minister's office said they were looking into the report. Israeli defense officials have been concerned about an outbreak of hostilities, and had
sent messages recently that the country is not interested in going to war, Israeli officials said.
Israel acknowledges flying over Lebanon routinely, but it is unclear how often its aircraft fly over Syria.
Israeli aircraft are believed to fly routine reconnaissance flights over the Golan Heights, in the south of the country, apparently to monitor Syrian army moves. But the incident Thursday was reported over the other side of Syria, in the north near the Mediterranean.
Syrian officials, including President Bashar Assad, have repeatedly warned Israel in recent weeks that the occupation of the Golan Heights "cannot last forever."
Concerns grew over the summer that tensions along the frontier could escalate into conflict, but both Syrian and Israeli officials publicly and repeatedly said they had no
interest in war.
Thursday's incident could stoke the tensions again, however. Late last month, Israeli security officials said the army had determined that war with Syria, whose military
had reduced its war readiness, was unlikely and Israel began rotating forces out of the Israeli-held Golan Heights.
"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."
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on Thursday on a Syrian news report that Israeli aircraft bombed targets in Syria.
"We have no knowledge of anything like this. We will get back to you," a military spokeswoman said by telephone from Tel Aviv.
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