JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Syrian man was killed when the truck he was driving in the Quneitra region of the Golan Heights on the road to Damascus allegedly was fired on by an Israeli drone, Syrian media is reporting. سلاح الدفاع الجوي في الجيش السوري يُسقط طائرة استطلاع صهيونية من دون طيار بعد خرقها السيادة السورية في ريف #القنيطرة#الاعلام_الحربي_المركزي pic.twitter.com/NU5Ecls6Kk — الاعلام الحربي مركزي (@C_Military1) March 20, 2017

طائرة الاستطلاع الصهيونية التي اسقطتها الدفاعات الجوية السورية فوق #القنيطرة هي من نوع سكاي لارك وزنها 7 كلغ تقريبا مع حمولة تصل إلى 1.2 كلغ pic.twitter.com/f3JfNtXHV5 — الاعلام الحربي مركزي (@C_Military1) March 20, 2017

Monday’s incident came after days of escalating tensions between Israel and Syria, set off by an early morning Israeli raid last Friday on a Hezbollah weapons convoy near Palmyra, with Syrian air defenses firing missiles at the Israeli planes. An Israeli army statement said “several anti-aircraft missiles” were fired following the raid, but that none hit their targets, dismissing a Syrian claim that one plane was downed and another damaged. The IDF, in turn, said on Friday that it used the advanced Arrow missile defense system to shoot down a Syrian anti-aircraft missile that was fired at an Israeli jet. "We have no interest in interfering in the Syrian civil war, we are neither for nor against (President Bashar) Assad, and we have no interest in clashing with the Russians," Defense Minister Lieberman said on Sunday. The reported strike came hours after Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman threatened to destroy Syrian air defense systems, after Israeli aircraft were targeted during a bombing run early Friday morning. “The next time the Syrians use their air defense systems against our planes we will destroy them without the slightest hesitation,” Lieberman said on Israeli public radio. Regarding Liberman’s response to this incident threatening to destroy Syria’s defense systems, the professor said, “The response is mainly rhetoric although sometimes in the Middle East rhetoric does lead to action and that needs to be avoided.”

Russia and Israel sort of had an agreement that any military equipment going from Iran to Hezbollah to fight against Daesh would not be used to attack Israel. Israeli tanks and warplanes fired at Syrian army positions overnight on Sunday in response to what an Israeli military spokesman described as an intentional attack from inside Syria. Israeli warplanes hit several targets in Syria on Friday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the strikes targeted weapons bound for Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah movement. Israel's security is above everything else; there will be no compromise," Lieberman said on Israeli public radio on Sunday. The military said that in response to the latest fire from the Syrian side of the frontier, "the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) targeted a Syrian army position, and hits were confirmed".
The Syrian Army shoots down an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Skylark drone over Syria's Quneitra Governorate.