The Syrian army said on Friday that it shot down an Israeli plane that had been carrying out pre-dawn raids on a military target near Palmyra, the famed desert city it recently recaptured from jihadists.
"Four Israeli planes penetrated our airspace at 0040 GMT via Lebanese territory and hit a military target on the way to Palmyra," the army said in a statement carried by state news agency SANA. "Our air defence engaged them and shot down one warplane over occupied territory, hit another one and forced the rest to flee," it added.
The incident is the most serious between the two countries since the civil war broke out in Syria in 2011.
The Israeli air force had earlier said it carried out several strikes on Syria overnight and that Syria had fired surface-to-air missiles in response.
Tensions flare
Both Israeli and foreign media have reported a number of Israeli air strikes inside Syria targeting arms convoys of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which fought a devastating 2006 war with Israel and is now fighting alongside the Damascus regime.
The missile fire prompted air raid sirens to go off in the Jordan Valley during the night, the Israeli army said.
In April 2016, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted for the first time that Israel had attacked dozens of convoys transporting weapons in Syria destined for Hezbollah.
Israel and Syria are still technically at war, though the border had remained largely quiet for decades until 2011 when the Syrian conflict broke out.
Iran-backed Hezbollah has been fighting against the rebels inside Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
While Israel has largely avoided getting sucked into the conflict directly, it has repeatedly struck Syrian territory, particularly targeting alleged Hezbollah weapons convoys.
Witnesses cited by the press also reported two explosions that could have been caused by the launch of the anti-missile system.
The Arrow 3 interceptor, designed to shoot down missiles above the atmosphere, was handed to airforce bases in Israel in January after successful testing by Israel and the United States.
Golan Heights
As well as hitting Hezbollah, Israel has also consistently targeted Syrian positions on the Golan Heights in response to alleged projectiles fired across the demarcation line between the countries.
In 1981 Israel annexed a large part of the Golan Heights which it seized from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War.
The annexation is still not recognised by the international community, which considers the territory Syrian.
Israel pays close attention to development in the Syrian conflict and the possibility that its arch-rival Iran will be able to install allies near the Israeli borders.
In the summer of 2006, Israel and Hezbollah fought a war in Lebanon that killed nearly 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and about 160 Israelis, mostly troops.
