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The Syria-Iran-Israel Kinetic Exchange: what was learnt

IDF: F-16 appears to have been downed by shrapnel from exploded missile

[IsraelTimes] Military still investigating exact cause of the fighter jet crash to determine if it was indeed brought down by Syrian anti-aircraft fire.

After Iran drone incursion, US says it backs Israel’s right to defend itself

[IsraelTimes] While State Department slams Tehran for its 'malign activities,' Putin tells Netanyahu to avoid triggering a 'new spiral' of clashes.

Iranian UAV that entered Israeli airspace seems to be American stealth knock-off

[IsraelTimes] IAF's second-in-command says drone, which was reportedly similar to aircraft seized by Tehran in 2011, was advanced and based on Western technology. The design for the Saeqeh, which looks something like a miniaturized B-2 bomber, is largely based on an American RQ-170 Sentinel spy drone, one of which Iran claimed to have shot down in December 2011, when it broadcast footage of the recovered aircraft.



Israel caused serious harm to Syria’s air defenses, says IAF second-in-command

[IsraelTimes] The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war in Syria, said Israel targeted the edges of a military air base, called T-4, in the Homs desert near Palmyra, where Iranian and Hezbollah forces are based alongside Syrian troops. The Observatory said the raids resulted in casualties, but didn’t specify. It also said Israeli raids targeted areas in southwestern Damascus, bordering the southern provinces. This was followed by raids on Syrian government posts along the Damascus-Beirut road, close to the border between Syria and Lebanon.

Condition of F-16 pilot in downed jet improves after emergency surgery

[IsraelTimes] Head of Rambam hospital says aviator suffered wounds to chest, abdomen while ejecting from jet; co-pilot set to be released home Sunday.

Iran rejects 'ridiculous' Israeli claim on downing Iranian drone
“Pshaw! And fiddlesticks, too!”
[PRESSTV] Iran has rejected as "ridiculous" claims by the Israeli regime that it had intercepted an Iranian drone launched from Syria, stressing the Islamic Theocratic Republic's military advisory presence in the Arab country is at the request of Syria’s "constitutional and legitimate" government.

"Claims about the flight of an Iranian drone ... are too ridiculous to be addressed because the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran has advisory presence in Syria at the request of the country's legitimate and constitutional government," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Saturday.

"The government and army of Syria as an independent country have a legitimate right to defend [the country's] territorial integrity and counter any type of foreign aggression," he added.
“How dare they aggress against us by defending themselves!” he added.

Posted by: trailing wife 2018-02-11
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=507833