Israel Shoots Down Syrian Fighter Jet Entering Israeli Airspace

Patriot Missile Image by Wikimedia Commons
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel fired two Patriot missiles at a Syrian fighter jet that penetrated more than a mile into Israeli airspace.
The plane, a Russian-made Sukhoi model fighter jet, was shot down on Tuesday afternoon, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
It was not immediately confirmed if the jet’s two pilots ejected before it was hit. The plane reportedly crashed into the Yarmouk area in Syria after it was hit.
The IDF said that the plane was under surveillance as it approached and breached the border.
The IDF also said that since Tuesday morning there had been an increase in fighting in Syria near the border with Israel and that there had been an increase in the Syrian Air Forces’ activity.
“The IDF is on high alert and will continue to operate against the violation of the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement,” the agreement on disengagement between Israel and Syria following the Yom Kippur War, the IDF Spokesman’s Unit said.
Syria’s official state-run SANA news agency cited an unnamed military source as saying that the warplane had been hitting rebel targets in the area of Sidon on the outskirts of the Yarmouk valley in Syrian airspace when Israel struck it. “The Israeli enemy confirms its adoption of the armed terrorist groups and targets one of our warplanes,” the military source told SANA.
On Monday, Israel for the first time fired the David’s Sling missile defense system, following the launch of two Syrian surface-to-surface missiles that appeared likely to land in Israel.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 2
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 3
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
- 4
Opinion Mike Huckabee said there’s ‘no such thing as a Palestinian.’ It’s worth thinking about what that means
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
-
Fast Forward Yarden Bibas says ‘I am here because of Trump’ and pleads with him to stop the Gaza war
-
Fast Forward Trump’s plan to enlist Elon Musk began at Lubavitcher Rebbe’s grave
-
Film & TV In this Jewish family, everybody needs therapy — especially the therapists themselves
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.