Israel shoots down Syrian fighter jet

Shortly after Syrian forces, which have been battling rebels and Islamic State militants along Israel’s border, reached the Golan Heights on Tuesday, Israel shot down a Syrian fighter jet that had breached Israeli airspace. Syrian soldiers reached the border fence of a UN observation post at the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights for the first time in seven years. Soon after, the Israeli military said it shot down one of Syria’s Sukhoi jets that had penetrated Israeli airspace by about 1.2 miles. It crashed in the southern part of the Syrian Golan Heights.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said it was unknown if the plane deliberately crossed into Israel or what happened to its pilot. The increased activity had put the Israeli military on “elevated alert,” he said, and Israel had issued warnings to prevent the conflict along its border with Syria from spreading into a demilitarized zone set out in a 1974 agreement.