Israel’s Air Force attacked a number of targets in its northern neighbor, Syria. According the IDF spokespersons unit, during the strike, the planes were spotted by the Syrian military, which fired anti-aircraft missiles at the Israeli fighter-jets. The Israeli planes managed to evade the rockets, yet one of the anti-aircraft missiles reportedly entered Israel’s airspace, during which Israel’s Arrow missile system was activated and successfully intercepted the Syrian projectile. The IDF noted that at no stage was there any danger to the pilots or to civilians on the ground. This was the first operational use of the ‘Arrow missile system’, which is part of Israel’s multi-layered anti-rocket systems, a fact that prompted Israel’s claim of responsibility for the incident. A defense official told TV7 that the successful interception would deter the enemies of the Jewish state, who will have to think twice before testing Israel’s military capabilities that are clearly superior compared to any country in the region.
According to Syrian reports, the Israeli strike was carried out in the area of the border between Lebanon and Syria, east of Ba’albek. The reports noted that Israel had targeted a delivery of advanced weaponry to the Iranian-proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah – a move Israel declared on several occasions as a ‘red line’ and that it would actively thwart any such attempt. According to reports in Israel’s eastern neighbor, Jordan, the fragments of the rockets fired at the Israeli fighter jets were found north of the Jordanian-capital Amman, in the Irbid region.