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

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

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

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

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 ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

, in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, while the Syrian Army claimed that a military site near

Palmyra Palmyra ( ; Palmyrene dialect, Palmyrene: (), romanized: ''Tadmor''; ) is an ancient city in central Syria. It is located in the eastern part of the Levant, and archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first menti ...

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, 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 Human error is an action that has been done but that was "not intended by the actor; not desired by a set of rules or an external observer; or that led the task or system outside its acceptable limits".Senders, J.W. and Moray, N.P. (1991) Human Er ...

. 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 Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

. 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 and Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name attached to the m ...

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 Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2017, 3, Israel-Syria incident Syria 3 Israel 3 Israel 3 2017 in the Syrian civil war March 2017 in Israel March 2017 in Syria Syria 2017 History of the 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 Quneitra Governorate in the Syrian civil war

Aftermath

See also

References