Missiles fired at Israeli fighter jets after airstrikes in Syria

Anti-aircraft missiles were launched from Syria into Israeli-controlled territory early on Friday, following a series of Israeli airstrikes inside Syria, the Israeli military said.

The move signals the most serious clash between Israel and pro-Assad forces since the beginning of the civil war in Syria.

The military said its warplanes struck several targets in Syria and were back in Israeli-controlled airspace when several anti-aircraft missiles were launched from Syria toward the Israeli jets.

Although none of the Israeli aircraft were hit, Israeli aerial defence systems intercepted one of the missiles, the army said, but did not elaborate. It would not say whether any other missiles struck Israeli-held territory, but it said the safety of Israeli civilians and the safety of the Israeli aircraft "were not compromised."

The first indications of the exchange of fire came in the middle of the night with air raid sirens in the Israeli-occupied Jordan valley in the West Bank, and reports of an explosion, heard over a large area, which was later confirmed as the sound of one of the missiles being brought down by Israeli air defences.

Later, Israeli military sources described the rocket brought down over Israel as one known to be in Syrian military arsenal – although not its most advanced – adding that it had been intercepted by its Arrow anti-missile system in its first confirmed use since being deployed in the late 1990s.

In a statement the Israeli army confirmed that Israeli jets have been targeting weapons convoys intended for the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which has been fighting on the side of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Israel has largely avoided entanglement in the war in Syria, however it has launched raids on warehouses and convoys linked to the transport of Iranian-supplied arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon.