Israel fired on Syrian targets and Syria fired back, as reported here. Prior to this, the Israelis had attacked Syria repeatedely. This latest attack was in retaliation to the alleged incursion of an Iranian drone into Israeli territory. The drone was shot down by the Israeli air force. However, the RT report went on to say: "Syria has repeatedly protested Israeli attacks on targets inside Syria. Earlier this week, Israeli warplanes attacked military targets near Damascus from Lebanese airspace, with the Syrian Army claiming it destroyed most of the Israeli rockets. In January, Israel launched three attacks on military targets in Syria, using jets and ground-to-ground missiles." At that time, Damascus claimed that it shot down one Israeli jet and one missile. It was the Syrian response to the three attacks in January that led me to predict that an Israeli jet would be shot down. The Syrian statement that Damascus had shot down an Israeli jet was not confirmed by Israel. I suspected at the time that an Israel plane may have in fact been damaged by Syrian fire but the authorities did not want to admit this to their own people. Israel has said that it would not “tolerate” the presence of Iranian military within a certain distance of Israel. However, it was Israel that was present illegally in Syria. Iran has been there at the invitation of Assad, who needed their help in fighting terror. Both Israel and the US have been treating Iranians like second class citizens despite the fact that without their boots on the ground, ISIS would still hold larger swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. While Israel is fuming that it will respond to this downing of their jet, it is unclear what they can do. Syria is protected by 2 types of Russian air defence systems, the powerful and effective S-400 and the effective but cheaper Pantsir, which was used to defend against the aforementioned Israeli missiles near Damascus in January. Further, Russia is in talks with Lebanon for military cooperation and for use of its ports for transit. This will necessarily be a game changer, making it more difficult for Israel to continue its illegal and unwelcome flights over Lebanon, from where it attacks Syria. The Shiite crescent is seeing its security and opportunities expand daily as terror is defeated. As for Israel, its ability and space to make war and seize land from its neighbors is shrinking.
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