The March 2017 Israel–Syria incident took place on 17 March 2017, when Israeli Air Force struck a target in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. In response the Syrian Army fired several S-200 missiles at Israeli jets above Golan Heights.

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

reported that one Syrian missile had been shot down by an Arrow 2 missile, while none of its aircraft had been damaged. Israel stated it was targeting weapon shipments headed toward anti-Israeli forces, specifically

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

, in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

, while the Syrian Army claimed that a military site near Palmyra had been struck. Syria claimed to have shot down one Israeli aircraft. Israel denied Syria's claim that one jet fighter was shot down and another damaged. Israel has not reported any pilots or aircraft missing in Syria, or anywhere else in the Middle East following the incident. Also, neither Syria nor Hezbollah have shown photos or video of downed Israeli aircraft or personnel. According to some sources, the incident was the first time Israeli officials clearly confirmed an Israeli strike against Hezbollah during the Syrian Civil War. Following a generic statement by the Israeli Defense Forces reading "Several anti-aircraft missiles were launched from Syria following the mission, and IDF aerial defense systems intercepted one of the missiles. At no point was the safety of Israeli civilians or the IAF aircraft compromised", several news reports started speculating about the use of the Arrow system to defend jet fighters from hostile surface to air missiles. However other Israeli news publications confirmed that the initial reading of the IDF statement was wrong; in fact, the IDF said that the jet fighters were never in danger and the missiles were far from the planes. But the IDF detected Syrian S-200 missiles on course to reach Israel, so the Arrow missile system was used to prevent them falling on settled areas. Indeed, a S-200, after losing its target, hence going ballistic, has approximately the size, the speed and the range of a battlefield artillery rocket such as the

FROG-7 The 9K52 ''Luna-M'' (russian: Луна; en, moon, NATO reporting name FROG-7) is a Soviet short-range artillery rocket system which fires unguided and spin-stabilized 9M21 rockets. It was originally developed in the 1960s to provide divisiona ...

, which is one of the very standard targets the Israeli missile defense is shaped around. The Jordanian Armed Forces reported that a part of the Arrow missile fell in its territory. There were no casualties in Jordan.

Aftermath

On 19 March 2017, Israeli defense minister Avigdor Liberman said that if Syria uses its air defense system against Israeli aircraft again, Israel will respond by targeting Syrian air defense systems. On 19 March an Israeli Skylark drone crashed in Syria reportedly due to human error. There were further reports on alleged Israeli airstrikes on 22 March 2017, with another round of bombings carried out on suspected Hezbollah targets near

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. On 25 March 2017, the Syrian government said that it will respond to future Israeli strikes on Syrian military targets with

Scud A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was exported widely to both Second World, Second and Third World, Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporti ...

missile attacks against IDF bases, and also it will retaliate against future strikes on Syrian civilian targets by firing Scud missiles at the Israeli city of Haifa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2017, 3, Israel-Syria incident Syria 3 Israel 3 Israel 3 2017 in the Syrian civil war Israel Syria 2017 Golan Heights Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian civil war Israel–Syria military relations Syria 2017 Israeli involvement in the Syrian civil war

Israel 2017 Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Spillover of the Syrian civil war

Aftermath

See also

References