Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem has more on the downing of that Syrian jet by an Israeli Patriot missile battery.  Video footage of the first such downing by Israel of a Syrian jet since 1982, showed two burning sections of the plane falling to the ground and then the parachutes of the pilot and navigator who ejected moments before the impact.  Syria immediately condemned the downing of the jet with state television describing it as an “act of aggression” and linking it to US-led air strikes against Islamic State in Syria that had occurred earlier.  The jet entered Israeli controlled air space a few minutes before 9 o’clock in the morning and was flying at between 10,000 and 14,000 feet when it was engaged.  Commenting on the incident, which occurred early on Tuesday morning, an Israeli military source said that a “Syrian aircraft infiltrated into Israeli air space” [and had been] intercepted in mid-flight, using the Patriot air defence system.”  Military sources and experts described the plane as a Sukhoi 24 which they say had flown from Saikal air base in eastern Syria, adding that they believe it had strayed into Israeli air space while fully armed on a mission to bomb anti-government groups on the other side of the border.  The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the warplane had been bombing areas outside Quneitra, a Syrian town near the Israeli-held side of the frontier, at the time it was shot down.  The decision to down the aircraft was taken after it had spent 1 minute and 20 seconds in Israeli airspace.  Defending the decision to engage the aircraft, sources and military experts said the interception of Israel by an armed enemy aircraft could not “be tolerated”.  Commenting on the incident, Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon, said that the Syrian warplane had “approached Israeli territory in the Golan Heights in a threatening manner, and even crossed the border.”  He added that Israel “has made it clear in the past, and is reiterating now: “We will not allow anyone, neither state nor terror organization to threaten our security and to violate our sovereignty.”  In recent weeks fighting on the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria during the Six Day War in 1967, has heightened tensions on a border that has long been quiet.  The Assad regime has recently been fighting al-Qaida linked groups in the area of the Quneitra border crossing.  On a visit to the Golan last week the Guardian could hear the sound of fighting echoing over the mountainous border throughout the day and into the night.  Israel has largely stayed on the sidelines of Syria’s civil war raging across the border. But Israeli leaders appear increasingly nervous about the possibility of al-Qaida-linked fighters occupying the Golan’s high ground over northern Israel.  Israeli troops have responded to occasional mortar fire that has landed on the Israeli side of the Golan. Israel says some of the attacks have been accidental spillover, while others have been intentionally aimed at Israeli civilians and soldiers. It has always held Syria responsible for any cross-border fire.  Despite the incident the former Israeli air force commander Eitan Ben Eliyahu said he did not believe that the Assad regime was trying to provoke an escalation adding that he did not believe the aircraft posed a threat to Israel when it was shot down.  Speaking on Israel Radio he said: “The Syrian regime would not dare now—and it has not dared for decades—to do anything to provoke us. So I don’t believe that this was deliberate. The fighting there is right on the border fence and when planes are involved, because of their speed and altitude and ability to spot the targets, it is easy to make mistakes. We, of course, cannot permit this.  “No, I don’t consider the infiltration as a threat. But it reminds us of the mess over there. Perhaps the most important thing is the formation of the coalition against Isis.”
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