Syria says it opens fire at Israeli warplanes that enter its airspace

    DAMASCUS, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Syria said Thursday that its air defenses opened fire at Israeli warplanes that had entered its airspace at dawn and forced them to leave, but Israel said they are unaware of any such an incident.

    Syria's official SANA news agency quoted an army spokesman as saying that the Israeli planes penetrated Syrian airspace from the Mediterranean Sea heading towards the northeast.

An Israeli F16C fighter jet lands at the Ramat David Israeli air force base in 2006. Syria has said it opened fire on Israeli warplanes which had violated Syrian airspace at dawn, heightening tensions between the two countries. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
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    "The Syrian Arab Republic warns the government of the Israeli enemy against this aggressive action and reserves the right to respond in a way it deems appropriate," SANA said.

    The report, however, did not say the Israelis struck targets in Syria as some media reported, but only said the Israelis dropped ammunition.

    Israel Radio reported that an unidentified Israeli military spokesman had denied Israeli warplanes attacked targets in Syria.

    A spokesperson of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told Xinhua that they are unaware of any incident that Damascus had claimed that it fired on Israeli warplane that violated Syrian airspace.

    The IDF is not available for comments at the moment and would look into the report, said the spokesperson.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office also said it was looking into the report.

A picture taken from the Quneitra checkpoint shows an Israeli military watch tower in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)
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    Meanwhile, Syrian Expatriates Minister Buthaina Shaaban also told the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera television in an interview that it was not clear whether the Israeli aircraft had actually carried out an attack and investigation was still going on.

    It was not clear if Syria was accusing the Israelis of using warplanes or some type of other aircraft like drones.

    Israel acknowledges flying over Lebanon routinely, but it is unclear how often its aircraft fly over Syria.

    At the beginning of last summer's war against Lebanon in July, Israeli warplanes buzzed the palace of Syrian President Bashar Assad in what analysts called a warning to Damascus.

    In June of the same year, they also flew over Assad's summer home in the coastal city of Latakia, after Syrian-backed Palestinian militants in Gaza kidnapped IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit.

    In August 2003, Israeli warplanes also reportedly flew so low that windows in the presidential palace shattered. Two months later, Israeli jets bombed an empty Palestinian militant training camp in Syria.

    Peace talks between arch-foes Syria and Israel, still technically at a state of war, collapsed in 2000 largely due to the disaccord over the fate of the strategic Golan plateau, occupied by Israel in 1967 and annexed in 1981 in a move which was declared null by the UN Security Council.

    Syria has repeatedly expressed interest in resuming talks with Israel through a third party, but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently offered to begin direct peace negotiations between the two countries without the mediation of the United States.

    During the past months, the two sides said that they do not want a war with each other, but were preparing for any possibility.

    Last month, Israel said its army had determined that war with Syria was unlikely and it was reducing its war readiness on the Golan Heights.

    Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak also said in August that "Israel does not want a war and Syria, according to our estimates, does not wish for one either."