Syrian military air defenses struck an Israeli warplane and shot down Israeli missiles targeting the T4 air base in Homs province in response to an act of “aggression” on Sunday night, Syrian state media claimed.
The agency said that Syrian forces “hit one of the attacking warplanes and forced the others to leave the airspaces (sic).”
Damascus, as well as its allies Iran and Russia, said Israel was responsible for an April 9 air strike on the same Homs base, an attack that killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) members. Tehran vowed at the time to respond.
In May, Israel said it attacked Tehran’s military infrastructure in Syria, accusing Iranian forces of firing rockets at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, in the most extensive military exchange between the two foes.
An Israeli-Iranian showdown also flared over Syria in February, when Israel said an armed drone coming from the T4 base penetrated its airspace. Israel blew up the drone and carried out a raid on Syrian air defenses, in which one of its F-16 jets was downed.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said that Israel does not comment on foreign reports, Reuters reported on Sunday night.
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