February 2018 Israel–Syria incident

February 2018 Israel–Syria incident
	Part of Israeli–Syrian border incidents and the Iran–Israel conflict during the Syrian civil war
Date	10 February 2018
Location	Syria, Israel
Result	Per IAF, Iranian drone shot down after entering Israeli airspace; Israel responds by striking the Tiyas Military Airbase in Syria; Downing of Israeli F-16 jet by the Syrian Air Defense; Per IAF, Israeli fighter jets attack additional sites, bringing the total to 12 being hit;
Belligerents
Israel	Syria; Iran
Units involved
Israeli Air Force	Syrian Arab Air Force; Syrian Air Defense Force
Strength
8 F-16 jets; 1 AH-64 helicopter	1 Saegheh (UAV); Unknown number of air defense systems and SAM batteries including S-200, SA-17, SA-6 and SA-3
Casualties and losses
2 pilots wounded,; 1 F-16 shot down	6–10 soldiers/militiamen killed,; 1 drone shot down,; 12 sites hit (8 Syrian & 4 Iranian; per Israel)

On 10 February 2018, an Israeli F-16I was shot down by the Syrian air defenses after conducting an air raid on Iran-backed positions inside Syrian territory. The aircraft was part of a larger Israeli aerial dispatch which Israel said was sent in response to detection of an Iranian drone spying on Israel. Two hours after the downing of the jet, Israel began attacking additional targets inside Syria, including air defense sites and Iranian targets near Damascus. Israel stated it destroyed the Syrian military's main command and control bunker. Iran dismissed the Israeli allegation of Iranian drone incursion into Israeli territory as "ridiculous".

It was the first time Israel and Iran confronted each other directly since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the beginning of the Iran–Israel proxy conflict. Israel stated that it was "the biggest and most significant attack the air force has conducted against Syrian air defenses since the 1982 Lebanon War". Hezbollah said that the downing of the F-16 was the beginning of "a new strategic phase", as it was the first occasion on which Israel lost a jet to an enemy combatant since 1982.

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