Israel confirms that F-16 fighter was shot down by Syrian Air Defense
The Israeli military plane that crashed on Saturday was struck by ground fire, according to information from the Israel's army press service.
“The pilots, in accordance with their training, ejected from the plane and came down in Israeli territory,” said an English-language infographic posted on Twitter by the army’s press service.
During the ejection, one pilot suffered serious injuries, underwent surgery, and is in the hospital in Haifa. The navigator was less seriously injured and is already “on his feet.” This was reported by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to the military, the aircraft was fired on by Syrian government forces using the S-200 and Buk missile systems of Soviet-Russian production.
On Saturday, the Israeli military announced that they had intercepted an Iranian drone over Iran’s Golan Heights. The drone had invaded Syria and then attacked the UAV base in the area of Palmyra. Syrian air defense opened fire on the Israeli aircraft. One F-16 fighter crashed. Syrian state media said that the country’s air defense system repelled the attack by the Israeli Air Force.
Afterward, Israeli aircraft carried out another raid, and was it reported that 12 Syrian and Iranian targets near Damascus were destroyed, including anti-aircraft batteries. Syria accused Israel of aggressive action.
According to the Israeli infographic, the military actions lasted four and a half hours, from 04:25 to 08:55 (05:25 to 09:55 Moscow time).
The Chief of Staff of the Israeli Air Force, Tomer Bar, said yesterday that the operation that Israeli aircraft carried out on Saturday resulted in the biggest confrontation with Syria’s air defense forces since 1982, and it was a complete success.