With expectations high for a war between Syria and Israel,
this is potentially big news:
Syrian air defenses opened fire on Israeli aircraft that violated Syrian airspace overnight Thursday, a Syrian military spokesman said.
The Israelis broke the sound barrier and "dropped ammunition" over deserted areas of northern Syria overnight, the spokesman was quoted by the official Syrian Arab News Agency.
There are more credible sources than the official Syrian News Agency.
Tawana Brawley is one that springs to mind. Another is
Matilda Who Told Lies, and was Burned to Death. The event itself was
confirmed by recordings from international satellites, however.
"We warn the Israeli enemy government against this flagrant aggressive act, and retain the right to respond in an appropriate way," the Syrian spokesman said.
It was not clear if Syria was accusing the Israelis of using warplanes or some type of other aircraft like drones.
"The Israeli enemy aircraft infiltrated into the Arab Syrian territory through the northern border, coming from the Mediterranean heading toward the eastern region, breaking the sound barrier," the spokesman said. "Air defense units confronted them and forced them to leave after they dropped some ammunition in deserted areas without causing any human or material damage."
The IDF said that it was "not accustomed to responding to such reports."
Israel acknowledges flying over Lebanon routinely, but it is unclear how often its aircraft fly over Syria.
Reader Sam wants to know if Israel responded yet, say, by giving back the Golan. Interestingly, Israel is actually playing dumb:
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said it was looking into the report.
Update: YNetNews has
this useful clarification:
it was not clear what the [Syrian] spokesman meant by dropping ammunition. Warplanes sometimes drop extra fuel tanks to make the aircraft lighter and easier to maneuver.
