Image copyright Reuters/Russian Federation Image caption Israel said the jet was a Syrian Sukhoi fighter jet - a version of which is pictured here

Israel's Haaretz news website said residents in northern Israel saw interceptor missiles fired and heard explosions. The incident added new fuel to weeks of tensions over the Golan, a strategic plateau between the two old enemies and where Israel has been on high alert as Syrian government forces, supported by Russia, close in to regain rebel-held ground. The Israeli military said it monitored the advance of the Syrian Sukhoi fighter jet and shot it down with a pair of Patriot missiles after it penetrated Israeli airspace by about 2 kilometres (1.2 miles). Israel’s military has been on “elevated alert” along the frontier because of activity on the Syrian side of the fence, said military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus. I do not know of any reports of parachutes being spotted, and we do not know if any pilots have been retrieved." On Tuesday, government forces reached the border fence where a UN peacekeeping force is deployed at the edge of Golan Heights, which is internationally recognised as Syrian land under illegal occupation by Israel. Israel seized 1200 square kilometres of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six Day war, in a move never recognised internationally. This is a gross violation of the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement with Syria. Flames and smoke were also later seen rising from the area of the fence between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights, AFP news agency reports. It is the first time government forces have taken up positions along the frontier since an uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad swept through the country in 2011. Earlier, Syrian state media said government forces had captured territory from rebels and Islamic State terrorists, reaching the frontier on the Golan Heights.
The Israel Defense Forces shoot down a Syrian Air Force jet near the Golan Heights after it reportedly crosses into the UNDOF zone near Israeli border.