http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/world/middleeast/israel-syria-warplane-drone-golan-heights.html 2016-09-13 14:19:29 Israel Denies Claims That Syria Shot Down Warplane and Drone Two missiles were fired at aircraft that were targeting artillery positions in the Syrian Golan Heights, but neither came close, the Israeli military said. === JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said on Tuesday that Syrian forces had fired two surface-to-air missiles at Israeli aircraft that were targeting artillery positions in the Syrian It was not immediately clear whether the Syrian antiaircraft fire early Tuesday, a rare response to an Israeli air incursion, was intended to hit the Israeli planes or to serve as a warning. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said the Syrians “didn’t shoot anything down.” Suggesting that the missile fire had not come close to hitting the Israeli aircraft, he added that they were “in no danger” and that “at no point was the safety of the aircraft compromised.” Israeli Army Radio said that the missile fire had been inaccurate and had occurred long after the Israeli attack. The altercation came soon after a fragile The Israeli military said its attack on Syrian artillery positions had come in response to what appeared to be spillover from that fighting, after a projectile landed on the Israeli-controlled side of the Golan Heights for the fourth time in a week. Colonel Lerner said it was not clear whether the rounds that had hit Israeli-held territory had been the result of an intentional attack or errant fire. Israel Other strikes attributed to Israel, which fought a monthlong war against Hezbollah in 2006, have targeted forces associated with the militant group across the decades-old cease-fire line in the Golan Heights. As the civil war in Syria has spilled over into the Israeli-controlled part of the Golan Heights, whether intentionally or not, Israel has Israel says it holds Syria responsible for the fire in its part of the Golan Heights. The attacks in response by Israel, as well as its more covert campaign, have generally passed without retaliation from a Syrian government beleaguered by the civil war. Israeli strikes in the Quneitra area in recent weeks have fueled the suspicions of Syrian government supporters that Israel is aiding insurgents — including those linked to Al Qaeda — near the frontier. SANA reported that the Israeli attack on Tuesday “came in support of the armed terrorist groups and in a desperate attempt to raise the deteriorating morale of their members due to the heavy losses they have suffered in Quneitra.” While maintaining that its policy is one of noninterference in the Syrian civil war, Israel has been extending medical assistance and other humanitarian aid to what it describes as the more moderate, non-jihadist rebel forces across the border.