Syria has claimed its forces have shot down an Israeli jet and unmanned aircraft in response to an attack on Syrian army positions, a claim Israel deny.
The Israeli military have rejected Syrian claims as “completely false” but said Syrian forces had fired two surface-to-air missiles after an Israeli strike on a Syrian position.
A statement issued by the Syrian Defence Ministry said an Israeli jet and a unmanned aircraft were shot down after they carried out a bombing raid on a Syrian army position in the south-western city of Quneitra.
Israel has regularly bombed Syrian territory during the course of its long civil war after fighting in Syria spilled onto the Israeli border.
Syria has never recognised the State of Israel and does not accept Israeli passports for entry into Syria. Israel also regarded Syria as an enemy state and generally prohibits its citizens from going there. There have not been diplomatic relations between the two countries since the creation of both countries in the mid-20th century.
The incidents are considered a spillover of the Quneitra Governorate clashes since 2012 and later incidents between the Syrian Army and the rebels, ongoing on the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan and the Golan Neutral Zone and the Hezbollah involvement in the Syrian Civil War.
Through the incidents, which began in late 2012, as of mid-2014, one Israeli civilian was killed and at least 4 soldiers wounded; on the Syrian-controlled side, it is estimated that at least ten soldiers were killed, as well as two unidentified militants, who attempted to penetrate into Israeli-occupied side of the Golan Heights.
Israel also bombs Syrian Army command centres while taking injured Al Nusra terrorists (and others) into Israel for medical treatment, then sends them back into Syria to continue their efforts to overthrow Assad.