Crew (2) reported to have successfully ejected and be recovering in hospital.
Israeli fighter jet shot down by Syrian fire, says military
Syrian anti-aircraft fire has shot down an Israeli fighter and Israel struck an Iranian target that had launched an unmanned aircraft into its airspace from Syria, the Israeli military said.
“IDF (Israel Defence Forces) has targeted the Iranian control systems in Syria that sent the [unmanned aircraft] into Israeli airspace. Massive Syrian anti-air fire, one F16 crashed in Israel, pilots safe,” Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said on Twitter on Saturday.
The tweet added that Iran was responsible for “this severe violation of Israeli sovereignty. Event ongoing, more to follow”. According to a separate military statement, Israeli forces had identified an “Iranian UAV” launched from Syria and intercepted it in Israeli airspace with a combat helicopter.
Israeli media said the jet crashed in northern Israel.
Syrian state media said air defences opened fire in response to an Israeli act of “aggression” against a military base on Saturday and hit “more than one plane”, citing a military source. “The Israeli enemy entity at dawn today conducted a new aggression against one of the military bases in the central region. Our air defences confronted it and hit more than one plane,” the unidentified military source said.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates......