A Syrian fighter jet flew into Israeli air space a little while ago and Israel was forced to shoot it down using their patriot missiles:
Two Patriot missiles were launched at a Syrian Sukhoi fighter jet that infiltrated about 1 mile into Israeli airspace. The IDF monitored the fighter jet, which was then intercepted by the Patriot missiles. pic.twitter.com/owL4Pm7zER
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) July 24, 2018
Since this morning, there has been an increase in the internal fighting in Syria and the Syrian Air Force's activity. The IDF is in high alert and will continue to operate against the violation of the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) July 24, 2018
A Syrian warplane that Israel shot at on Tuesday was hit and crashed on the Syrian-held side of the Golan Heights, the Israeli military said.
“It was shot down and it crashed,” Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus told reporters. “We do not have any information so far about the pilots. I do not know of any reports of parachutes being spotted, and we do not know if any pilots have been retrieved.”
He confirmed that the plane was Syrian, not Russian. “The only thing we know about the aircraft is that it crashed, most likely in the southern part of the Syrian Golan Heights,” he said.
According to the AP the Syrian regime has taken back territory from ISIS near the Golan heights:
Syrian state media says government forces have reached the frontier with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights after capturing territory from rebels and Islamic State militants.
Al-Ikhbariya TV on Tuesday broadcast footage from the fence demarcating the U.N. buffer zone between Syrian and Israeli forces inside the Golan Heights.
The camera showed an Israeli observation post 400 meters (440 yards) away.
I would assume this has something to do with the Syrian jet flying into Israeli airspace. I’ll let you know if there is further escalation.
UPDATE: Here’s more from the AP:
The Israeli military says the Syrian plane it shot down departed from the Syrian T4 air base, which Israel is believed to have attacked earlier this year.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus says Tuesday that the plane flew toward Israel at “relatively high speed” before breaching the country’s airspace. He said it was unknown if the plane deliberately crossed into Israel nor what happened to its pilot. The plane crashed in the southern part of the Syrian Golan Heights, he said.
He said the increased activity near Israel’s frontier with Syria put the military on “elevated alert” and prompted Israel to issue a number of warnings through different channels to ensure a 1974 agreement which sets out a demilitarized zone along the shared Syria-Israel frontier would not be violated
UPDATE 2:
Via Arutz Sheva:
The Russian-backed Sputnik outlet reported a source in Syria saying that one of the two pilots in a Syrian plane, which infiltrated Israeli airspace and was subsequently shot down by the IDF, has been killed.
The whereabouts and condition of the second pilot onboard remain unknown.