'..Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel viewed with “utmost gravity” Iran’s efforts to establish a military presence in Syria, and said he had made clear to Mr. Putin that Israel would “act according to need.”
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The clash showed the extent to which Syria has become a battlefield between Israel and Iran, among many other intersecting conflicts involving foreign combatants.''One of Israel’s F-16 fighter jets crashed in northern Israel on its way back from the mission after coming under heavy Syrian antiaircraft fire, believed to be the first Israeli plane to be lost under enemy fire in decades.
That prompted a broad wave of Israeli strikes against a dozen Syrian and Iranian targets in Syrian territory. The Israeli military said it hit eight Syrian targets, including three aerial defense batteries, and four Iranian positions that it described as “part of Iran’s military entrenchment in Syria.”
The events, including Israel’s direct engagement with Iranian forces, risked escalating the intensifying crisis in Syria, where forces from Russia, Turkey and the United States are also on the ground in a war with multiple fronts and multiple factions, including the remnants of the Islamic State and other Islamist militant groups.
Israel has long warned about the risk of conflict as Iranian forces and their allies, including Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group militia, have dug in on Syrian territory and approached the boundary with the Israeli-held portion of the Golan Heights. Israel, which considers Iran its most potent enemy in the region, has been lobbying world powers — so far, apparently, without success — to distance these forces from the border areas.
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..this was the first Israeli strike on a site where Iranian forces were present, analysts said, and Israeli military officials said this was the first time an Iranian drone had penetrated Israeli airspace during the Syrian war.
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Israeli military officials accused the Syrians and Iranians of “playing with fire,” but indicated that Israel wanted to contain the situation.
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..Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement that Israel viewed with “utmost gravity” Iran’s efforts to establish a military presence in Syria, and said he had made clear to Mr. Putin that Israel would “act according to need.”
Russia, along with Iran, has been helping prop up the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
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The clash showed the extent to which Syria has become a battlefield between Israel and Iran, among many other intersecting conflicts involving foreign combatants.'
- Isabel Kershner,
Israel Strikes Iran in Syria, Losing Jet, as Conflict Moves Into Perilous Phase, February 10, 2018
Context'The start of Iran's nuclear program can arguably be pegged to December 8, 1953.'(2003 - 2033) - A Thirty Years' War in the Middle East'..a synchrotron particle collider .. Jordan .. the Middle East, including Iran, Pakistan, the Palestinian Authority and Israel.'