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Syria 'fires on Israel warplanes' Syria 'fires on Israel warplanes'
(about 2 hours later)
Syria says its air defences have opened fire on Israeli war planes which had entered Syrian airspace overnight. Syria has said its air defences opened fire on Israeli warplanes after they violated its airspace in the north of the country.
Israeli planes had "dropped ammunition" over desert areas of Syria, before being forced to leave, according to the official Syrian news agency, SANA. Syrian officials said the defences forced the jets to drop ammunition over deserted areas and turn back, according to the official news agency, Sana.
Israel radio quoted an unnamed Israeli army source as saying no air strike had been carried out, Reuters agency said. Israel's military said it would not comment on the reports.
The Syrian news agency says the action took place "without causing human or material loss". Israel and Syria remain technically at war and tensions between them have been rising in recent months.
Syria and Israel have remained technically at war since the seizure of the Golan Heights in 1967. The Syrian government has insisted that peace talks can be resumed only on the basis of Israel returning the Golan Heights, which it seized in 1967.
Tensions between Israeli and Syria have been rising in recent months. Both countries' leaders have said they do not want a war, while accusing the other side of arming for a conflict. Israeli authorities, for their part, have demanded that Syria abandon its support for Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups before talks can begin.
Syria says it last fired at Israeli warplanes in June 2006, when Israeli aircraft flew over the summer residence of the Syrian president, while he was inside. 'Military messages'
A Syrian spokesman said the Israeli aircraft had flown into Syrian airspace from the Mediterranean Sea at around 0100 local time on Thursday morning, Sana reported.
They were then engaged by Syrian air defence forces in the Tall al-Abyad, an area 160km (100 miles) north of Raqqa and near the border with Turkey, witnesses said.
Israel in fact does not want peace - it cannot survive without aggression, treachery and military messages Mohsen BilalSyrian Information Minister
"Air defence units confronted them and forced them to leave after they dropped some ammunition in deserted areas without causing any human or material damage," the spokesman said.
Pilots sometimes jettison extra fuel to make their aircraft lighter and easier to manoeuvre.
Syria's Information Minister, Mohsen Bilal, told al-Jazeera TV that his government was "seriously studying the nature of the response".
"Israel in fact does not want peace," he said. "It cannot survive without aggression, treachery and military messages."
Tensions
Officials in Damascus said Syrian forces last fired at Israeli warplanes in June 2006, when they flew over the summer residence of the Syrian president in Lattakia, while he was inside.
Over the past few months, the leaders of both countries have both stressed that they do not want war.
But both sides have also been preparing for possible conflict.
In June, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert insisted his country did not want war with Syria, and that he had communicated this to Damascus through diplomatic channels.
He also repeated his warning that a "miscalculation" could spark hostilities between the two.
Mr Olmert's statement came after the Israeli military staged major exercises in the Golan Heights.