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Israel Denies Syrian Report of Downed Israeli Warplane, Drone


FILE - An Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jet flies during an aerial demonstration at a graduation ceremony for Israeli airforce pilots at the Hatzerim air base in southern Israel.
FILE - An Israeli Air Force F-15 fighter jet flies during an aerial demonstration at a graduation ceremony for Israeli airforce pilots at the Hatzerim air base in southern Israel.

Syria and Israel issued conflicting claims Tuesday about the fate of Israeli military aircraft that conducted airstrikes on the Syrian side of the border in the Golan Heights area.

Both agreed that Israel attacked a Syrian military position around 1 a.m.

But Syria's state-run SANA news agency said its military responded by shooting down an Israeli warplane and a drone. The Israeli Defense Forces said Syria fired two missiles, but that its aircraft "were not harmed."

Syria also cast the Israeli airstrikes as coming in support of "armed terrorist groups." The government has often referred to opposition fighters as terrorists.

Israeli said it was responding to a projectile that was launched from the Syrian side and landed in Israel. That type of spillover has happened numerous times throughout the conflict in Syria since it began in March 2011, and Israel often reacted with airstrikes like those carried out Tuesday.

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