Israel shoots down Syrian fighter near Golan Heights

Israel has shot down a Syrian warplane flying over its airspace over southern Golan, according to its military.

The Israel Defense Forces tweeted that two Patriot missiles were fired at the Syrian Sukhoi fighter jet, which it said was one mile inside Israeli airspace.

Haaretz news website reports residents in north Israel saw interceptor missiles fired and heard explosions.
Unconfirmed reports say that a pilot was killed.

In a statement, the IDF said it was on "high alert" following "an increase in the internal fighting in Syria" and greater activity by Syria's air force.
It is reportedly the first time Israel has shot down a manned Syrian aircraft since 2014.

The shooting follows the day after Israel used its David's Sling missile defence system for the first time.
The system was activated when two Syrian surface-to-surface missiles seemed to approach Israeli airspace.

BBC
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