JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Israel Defense Forces said it intercepted a drone from Syria that entered Israeli airspace.
The unmanned aircraft that entered northern Israel on Sunday, near an area of heavy fighting between rebels and Syrian forces as part of Syria’s more than 3-year-old civil war, was shot down by a Patriot missile near the Syrian town of Quneitra located on Israel’s border, according to the IDF.
“The IDF will not tolerate a breach of the State of Israel’s sovereignty,” the IDF said in a statement on its website.
Several mortars fired from Syria have struck the Golan Heights in the last week. An IDF officer was injured by stray gunfire from Syria and a civilian was injured by mortar shrapnel that hit Israel’s Golan. The IDF retaliated for some of the mortar fire.
Farmers in northern Israel have been told to stay off farmland near the border and tourist sites on the border have been closed, according to reports.
It is believed that the rebels have taken over the Quneitra crossing between Syria and Israel.
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