IDF shoots down Syrian fighter plane infiltrating Israeli territory

The Israel Defense Forces' aerial defense system on Tuesday fired a Patriot missile and shot down a Syrian Sukhoi 24 fighter jet that infiltrated Israeli territory, Haaretz.com reported.

The jet was toppled over the Syrian side of the Quneitra border, after it had flown 800 meters west of the border into Israel and turned around.

The decision to down the jet was made after 1:20 minutes of flight; when the Patriot hit the plane, the Syrian pilots had already turned around and flown back into their territory.

The two pilots had apparently managed to operate their ejection seats within that timeframe, as they were captured in footage released by the Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union parachuting to the ground.

This is the first time since the Lebanon War in the 1980s that the IAF has toppled a Syrian aircraft.

The jet apparently took off from a base in eastern Syria and was toppled after it had reached an altitude of 10,000-14,000 feet. At that height, the plane was capable of launching attacks on the Syrian rebel forces near the Israeli border. Although Israel did not see any threat of attack on its own territory from that plane, its policy stipulates that any plane that breaches its territorial authority must be downed to avoid security risk.