Downing of Israeli F-16 warplane marks start of new strategic phase: Hezbollah
The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement has strongly condemned the Israeli regime’s continued acts of aggression against Syria’s military and civilian structures, saying the downing of an Israeli F-16 jet by the Syrian air defense systems marks the “start of a new strategic phase” which would limit Israeli violations of the Syrian airspace.
Hezbollah, in a statement released on Saturday evening, praised “the vigilance of the Syrian army and its valiant response to shoot down the hostile Israeli aircraft.”
“Today’s developments mean the old equations have categorically ended,” the statement noted, adding that the Lebanese resistance movement firmly and strongly supported the Syrian people in defending their land, sovereignty and legitimate rights.
Earlier on Saturday, Syria’s state television, citing an unnamed Syrian military official, reported that air defense systems had struck at least one intruding Israeli F-16 fighter aircraft.
The official added that the aircraft had targeted a Syrian army base in the central region of the country, and that more than one Israeli warplane had been shot down.
A pro-government military alliance in Syria said in a statement that Israel would see a severe and serious response to its “terrorism” from now on.
The Syrian military targets at least one Israeli F-16 warplane that attacked Syrian territory, hitting it and sending it down in flames and smoke.
