Israeli jets over Syria endure barrage of hundreds of anti-aircraft missiles

The Syrians have shot over 200 anti-aircraft missiles at Israeli jets on their missions, according to the report.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Israeli pilots contend with hundreds of anti-aircraft missiles and ground-to-air fire as they strike at Iranian forces in Syria, a Monday report reveals.

Israel’s Kan public broadcasting released rare recordings of pilots hitting targets in Syria during one of the many attacks that Israel has carried out in the last year over its northern border to deter Iran and its proxies from gaining a foothold in the country.

“We’re at Ready. Good speed. No messages…. You have permission to fire at the target,” the commander says in one recording.

“Roger. Firing one. Firing two,” comes the response, as the video shows an explosion on the ground below.

In another recording, the pilot says over his radio, “Execution according to plan. Each one on his own board mission.”

“Good height, everyone’s clean. TV. Last drops to ‘Batman’ … Batman, everyone stay alert.”

The command to stay alert is necessary. The Syrians have shot over 200 anti-aircraft missiles at Israeli jets on their missions, according to the report. Col. Y, commander of the Ramon Airbase told Kan News that the IAF lost an F-16I plane to such missile fire about three years ago.

“We’ve experienced massive ground-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft fire for a long time already,” he said, “so we invest an enormous amount in our preparations. We’re very careful that it will be at the right time, in the right place, with the right flight path, right height. There are a lot of parameters that we take into consideration.”

“Whoever says that [when a missile is fired at him] it doesn’t tense him up and doesn’t scare him is saying something wrong in my humble opinion,” he said.

“When we look outside, when fire is directed at the sky, we give it full respect,” he added. “On the other hand, I can tell you that you plan the mission in such a way that you can carry it out also if missiles are shot in the sky. You’re always ready for surprises… You have to know how to react very quickly.”

According to foreign press reports, Israel has hit Syria five times in the last three weeks alone, with an especially effective one killing dozens of Iran-backed militia and destroying weapons facilities on the Iraqi border. Calling it “the most intense of its kind on Syrian territory,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added in that specific case “no response or attempt to confront the Israeli bombing was monitored by the [Syrian] regime’s air defenses.”

While often staying mum on such attacks, Jerusalem has admitted to thousands of strikes in Syria over the last several years against Iranian or their proxies’ military outposts, ammunition storage and rocket production sites, and the like.

On Monday, a photographer from Hezbollah’s Al Manar television station in Lebanon tweeted pictures of what seemed to be an F-35I stealth fighter, the IAF’s most advanced airplane, high in the sky over his country.

6 طائرات من نوع F-15. إسرائيلية معادية كانت تحلق في الأجواء اللبنانية لساعات .#عدوان_على_السيادة pic.twitter.com/td3GTGhtgb

— علي شعيب 🇱🇧 2️⃣ (@alishaib1970) January 25, 2021

Although the photographer misidentified it in his post as one of “six F-15s flying over Lebanon for hours,” Israel uses the fifth-generation F-35I for reconnaissance and combat missions.

IAF airstrikeIranian threatSyria