Israel shot down a Syrian fighter jet it said had breached its airspace on Tuesday, as Syrian forces reached the Golan Heights frontier for the first time in seven years.
The Israeli military said it monitored the advance of the Syrian Sukhoi fighter jet and shot it down with a pair of Patriot missiles after it penetrated Israeli airspace by about two kilometres.
Syrian forces have been battling rebels and militants with Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) at the frontier with Israel in recent weeks.
Tuesday marked the first time government forces reached the border fence with the UN’s Disengagement Observer Force at the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
It was the first time Israel shot down a Syrian jet in four years.
Israel’s military said there had been an increase in internal fighting in Syria since the morning hours, including intensified activity by the Syrian Air Force.
Minutes before the plane was shot down, Syria’s state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV was broadcasting footage from the fence demarcating the UN buffer zone between Syrian and Israeli forces inside the Golan Heights. A UN observer post could be seen just on the other side of the fence.
Israeli children look out over the Israeli-Syrian border following an explosion on the Syrian side on Monday. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)
The camera showed an Israeli post 400 metres away.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967. The UN deployed a peacekeeping force between the two sides in 1974.
It is the first time government forces have taken up positions along the frontier since an uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad swept through the country in 2011. ISIS later seized territory from rebels along the frontier region.