Israel shot down a Syrian drone that penetrated its airspace on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, highlighting an escalation of volatility near the frontier which Netanyahu discussed in Moscow with Damascus’s biggest ally.
“A drone penetrated from Syria’s territory to Israel’s territory several hours ago. It was successfully shot down. And I would like to point out that we will be preventing any attempts to violate our air or land border,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday as he met President Vladimir Putin.
The drone, which had also overflown Jordan and appeared to have been unarmed and designed for surveillance, was downed near the Sea of Galilee at the foothills of the Golan Heights, said Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus.
“We are still looking into why it crossed – whether it was on a military mission and crossed on purpose, or it strayed,” he said, while adding that the latter scenario was “not common”.
